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<title>✿ INVISIBLE STRING ✿ STEVE ROGERS ✿ by gracehateseggnog</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27801748">✿ INVISIBLE STRING ✿ STEVE ROGERS ✿</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracehateseggnog/pseuds/gracehateseggnog'>gracehateseggnog</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Artist Steve Rogers, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Bisexual Character, Bisexuality, Break Up, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Marvel Universe, Musicians, No Sex, No Smut, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Original Character(s), Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Steve Rogers, Romantic Soulmates, Song: invisible string (Taylor Swift), Steve Feels, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Wordcount: 30.000-50.000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:56:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>39,558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27801748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracehateseggnog/pseuds/gracehateseggnog</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Have you found your soulmate yet?” She asked, rubbing against her pinky finger. Everyone was born with a soulmate, and when your soulmate thought about you as you, not as your soulmate, a gold thread tied around your pinkie would become visible and lead you to the other end, your soulmate.</p><p>“No…” He responded, making her turn her gaze from the crackling fireplace to the familiar stranger next to her. “I’m way too busy for that.”</p><p>She smirked and let out an intake of breath. “Well, we’re not getting any younger.” She replied, watching her hot chocolate swirl back and forth as she moved it in a circular motion back and forth.</p><p>“I guess not.” </p><p>◊◊◊</p><p>When you find your soulmate, everything's perfect, right?</p><p>Daisy Laine Stone has spent her whole life watching her close friends grow up with their soulmates in happiness and bliss.</p><p>And all she wants is to catch a glimpse of the person who held the golden string attached to her pinkie finger.</p><p>But when she does, things become even more complicated than she expected.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Wanda Maximoff/Vision, original - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗘 ✿ 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p>
<p>
  <b>A STORY BASED ON CHINESE FOLKLORE</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <strong>"YOU FOUND YOUR SOULMATE YET?"</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>"NO... TOO BUSY FOR THAT."</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>"WELL, WE'RE NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER."</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>"NO... I GUESS NOT."</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <b>
      
    </b>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>TAYLOR SWIFT<br/>AS<br/>DAISY STONE</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>CHRIS EVANS<br/>AS<br/>STEVE ROGERS</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>MISHA COLLINS<br/>AS<br/>JO CARSON</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>ANTHONY MACKIE<br/>AS<br/>SAM WILSON</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>ASHLEY JOHNSON<br/>AS<br/>GRAY COLLINS-CARSON</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>SCARLETT JOHANSSON<br/>AS<br/>NATASHA ROMANOFF</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
    <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING</b>
    <b>❞</b>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥'𝗦 𝗘𝗩𝗘</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>I WANT YOUR MIDNIGHTS,<br/>BUT I'LL BE CLEANING UP BOTTLES WITH YOU ON NEW YEAR'S DAY.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER ONE<br/>NEW YEAR'S EVE<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy Stone waved her sparkler around, holding her arm around her best friend, Gray. New Year's Eve 2013 had finally come, and boy, had that year been a bit unexpected. First, they had found Captain America in a frozen capsule underground, and then aliens attacked, and finally, the Avengers, a group of superheroes, was formed. So everyone was very much anticipating the end of the year. To top it all off, Daisy's best friend was getting married the next week, and this was technically her bachelorette party, her dream was to always see go to New Year's Eve in Times Square, and so after a bit of research and a lot of money, Daisy pulled together front-row tickets to one of the sections. She also knew that Gray <em>loved </em>Iron Man, and all of the newly founded Avengers, so she was able to find the place that they were going to be walking around and meeting people, and she bought the seats there.</p><p>So, December thirty-first, the two stood singing songs that the radio played, and waving their sparklers that they had been given around the pitch black sky.</p><p>They both held beers in their hands, but neither of them were much drinkers, so they only took a few sips once in a while. Gray grinned at her best friend, a little bit tipsy, but just enough to feel a slight buzzing and her face to flush red. Her phone lit up, making her glance down, then back up at Daisy after a few moments.</p><p>"Jo wanted to tell you to get me home safe. Somehow he knew I was going to drink a <em>little.</em>" Gray claimed. Jo was her fiancé, they had been dating since they were seniors in high school. Even though she was very happy for them, Gray had always been jealous of the happy couple, as she had never been in a real relationship before, let alone meet her soulmate like her two best friends. "He asked you if you wanted to drive me in or if you wanted him to pick me up."</p><p>"If he wants to pick you up he can. I'm sure he misses his fiancé." Elizabeth snickered, taking the phone out of Gray's hand and texting Jo back and letting him know to pick her up after the ball dropped. He responded with a quick '<em>Sounds Good</em>' and Elizabeth handed back Gray's phone, smiling at the girl hiccupping non-stop.</p><p>Gray gasped and pointed at the roof of one of the tall buildings surrounding them. "Look, Daisy!" She exclaimed, Daisy turning her head and watching in awe as Iron Man dropped down, flying around and shooting fireworks into the night sky.</p><p>Daisy had always been more of a Black Widow fan, but she really didn't pay attention to the internet all that much anyway, so, other than them saving the world, it really didn't mean a lot.</p><p>Captain America appeared on the skyscraper, mask on, but everyone knew his identity as Steve Rogers, since his mask had been taken off in front of many people. The patriotic superhero jumped down, catching a ride to the Times Square road from Iron Man, flying down and landing in the blank space in front of Daisy and Gray. Her blonde hair was whipped backwards as Iron Man landed, waving. The whole crowd screamed, the two women plugged their ears in an attempt to drown out the monstrous noise.</p><p>"I LOVE YOU IRON MAN!" Gray screamed.</p><p>Daisy chuckled. "Don't let Jo hear you say that." She scoffed at her friend in response, eagerly awaiting for the two superheroes to pass their part of the crowd and give them high fives, and the lucky ones would get a smirk from Tony Stark.</p><p>Speaking of the devil, the two heroes approached the women, Iron Man had his helmet taken off whilst his partner's mask stayed on. "Thanks for coming out!" Tony spoke, winking at Gray. Daisy swore that she almost passed out as they walked past.</p><p>Daisy watched as Captain America walked past, catching his blue eyes, even though they were shadowed from the mask. Her breath caught in her throat as he turned quickly around, smiling at the pedestrians screaming his name. The ball began to drop, and Gray handed Daisy a party favour, blowing her own in celebration.</p><p>"Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" As 2013 arrived on Earth, confetti dropped onto the ground and the most breathtaking firework show began. Even Iron Man flew across the sky again. Gray watched in awe, marveling at the gorgeous sights before her. Daisy smiled, knowing that she'd definitely win the best wedding gift bet that she had with four other of the attendees at her best friend's wedding.</p><p>Daisy watched, seeing who she presumed was Captain America sitting on one of the park benches away from the crowd, his maskless face lit up by the millions of lights. "Hey." Gray poked, making Daisy turn to her in question. "What time is Jo coming?"</p><p>"I think he's coming ten minutes from now. We should get moving, actually. We don't want to get caught in the crowd." The two laughed, one more than the other due to being tipsy. Daisy grasped Gray's hand tightly, not wanting to lose her before winding through the herd of people. Her breathing began to take a heavier pace, and she began hyperventilating as she pushed past more and more people.</p><p>The two finally reached the main road, taxis were parked on the edge of the sidewalk and only a few people had filtered into the wasteland-like area of Times Square. Not many people left so soon after the ball dropped, so almost none of the taxis had left.</p><p>"There's my car!" Gray shouted, immediately letting go of Daisy's hand and rushing onto the sidewalk, knocking on the window of the black sedan. Jo got out of the car, engulfing his soon-to-be wife in a hug and softly kissing the top of her head.</p><p>"There you go. Be safe with my best friend." Daisy winked, watching as Jo pulled away from Gray and helped her into the car. He hugged Daisy tightly, patting her back before jumping into the driver's seat and pulling down the window.</p><p>Jo smiled and rested his forearm on the windowsill of the car. "Do you want a ride? I'm pretty sure Gray's already fast asleep in the back."</p><p>Daisy chuckled. "No, I'm fine. I can walk from here I think." She stated, rubbing her hands together and blowing warm air into them, trying to get rid of the cold. "The library's just around the corner, so I should be able to crash there for the night." Jo nodded, turning on the engine again and turning the car out of the parked gear.</p><p>"Well, call if you need anything. This car has Bluetooth." Daisy nodded, waving at her friend as he pulled away. She looked down, shivering and burrowing further into her crème trench coat and blue jumper.</p><p>And thus began the walk that would change her life. She had thought a lot about what was about to happen after it actually happened, and always wondered, if she hadn't walked to the library instead of her house that night, would her life change?</p><p>Daisy stepped through the nighttime New York, looking at the buildings she had known all of her life, some she even grew up with. She passed the restaurant her family used to go to every Friday night, she knew all the staff there, and even dropped by for dinner every so often. It was a quiet place, but it smelled and felt like home to her.</p><p>After a while of walking, and reminiscing about the old brick building she passed, she approached one of the alleyways. It wasn't a dangerous neighborhood, so she walked down, using her cold hands to cover her nose and get rid of the stench coming from the large trash bins pushed against the walls.</p><p>Before you assume, no, our protagonist Daisy Stone did not get jumped and no, Captain America did not come to the damsel in distress' rescue. As we said before, it was never a dangerous area, and so without an issue, Daisy made it to the other side of the block.</p><p>She continued walking, constantly scanning up and down the layers upon layers of buildings to find the brick one she called her library, her life's work. Daisy had worked all of her life to own the building she worked at, and she couldn't have been prouder of herself.</p><p>All that Daisy wished for herself then was to share the experience of tea on a Saturday morning in front of a warm fireplace with someone. Sure, she had Gray and Jo, but they found their soulmates, each other. A year ago had been her last chance to have Christmas with her best friends, and the Christmas before this story takes place was quite lonely. She had spent it at a hotel in Vegas, which was nice, but it was cheap, and she wasn't much of a gambler or a drinker, anyway. Daisy reminisced on her past, remembering the many lonely holidays she spent by herself before she met Gray and Jo. The truth was, she had never been in a relationship, since all of the people she was ever attracted to had wanted to find their soulmate first, and they knew it wasn't her.</p><p>Finally, after snapping out of her thoughts, Daisy found her library and pulled out her keychain. See, this story isn't <em>that </em>predictable.</p><p>Daisy unlocked the door to her library, only to be stopped by a yell across the road. "Hey! I'm so sorry ma'am but can I stay in there until the morning?" It was a man's voice, and Daisy turned around, glancing at the man across the road. <em>Steve Rogers. </em>She had only seen his face from the news alerts after his mask was blown off during The Battle of New York, but she could see it from the illuminating street lights lining the sidewalks.</p><p>"I mean- sure...? Come on in." The superhero ran across the road, making it to the sidewalk. As he waited for Daisy to find her key and unlock the door, the two heard <em>many </em>screams coming from the block across from them. At first, the woman was worried. Who hears screams at midnight? Probably a witness to a murder, or the next victim. But as she found her key and shoved it into her door lock, she realized that a horde of Captain America fans were rushing to look for him.</p><p>The next moments felt like years for Daisy. She could hear the yelling and pounding of footsteps on the sidewalk as she attempted to unjam her library door. The noises got louder and louder, and she could feel Steve's eyes boring into the back of her head as she slammed the door with the side of her hip, finally unjamming it and letting the superhero rush into the library. Daisy quickly slammed the door shut, sighing in relief and placing a chair under the handle, just in case.</p><p>Daisy plopped down on one of her sofas, leaning forward and throwing a lit match into the fireplace, warming up the cold library in an instance. She turned on the lights and lit the rest of the candles that littered the tables and shelves. In every blank space there was either a bunch of plants or a lot of candles, it was beautiful. The walls were mostly just off-white, but behind the fireplace was a brick accent wall, and it contrasted the wall of bookshelves across from it. An archway led into the kitchen, where Daisy made coffee for the customers everyday.</p><p>Steve was in a daze. He had never seen a place as beautiful as the library since, well, since before he had gotten his super-soldier serum. He was too busy looking around at the ivy draped across the curtains over the windows to realize that Daisy had handed him a cup of hot chocolate in a fancy china cup.</p><p>"Thanks." He spoke, warming his hands with the warmth and his face with the steam. He sat down in one of the single chairs, placing his cup on the table beside him.</p><p>Daisy draped a thick wool blanket over his shoulders. "If you need anything, tell me. And when you get tired, you should be able to go upstairs. There's a makeshift bedroom I stay in every now and then. You can take that for the night and I'll take one of the couches down here." Steve nodded, grateful for the stranger's help, even if it was just to get an autograph.</p><p>"Thank you."</p><p>"It's just human decency." She said, sitting on the large couch beside him. "I bet you miss a lot of that from the olden days, huh?"</p><p>He laughed, but his frown didn't falter. "I guess I do."</p><p>The two stayed in silence for a few moments. Daisy got up to change the record over that was playing, but that was it. The crackling of the fireplace and the sound of the vinyl record player soothed Daisy, and it felt like home. Steve almost felt the same, after all, it was forties swing music that played across the record.</p><p>Deciding to break the seemingly thin ice between the two, Daisy began talking about something she knew that everyone knew about. "Have you found your soulmate yet?" She asked, rubbing against her pinky finger. Everyone was born with a soulmate, and when your soulmate thought about you as you, not as your soulmate, a gold thread tied around your pinkie would become visible and lead you to the other end, your soulmate.</p><p>"No..." Steve responded, making Daisy turn her gaze from the crackling fireplace to the familiar stranger next to her. "I'm way too busy for that."</p><p>She smirked and let out an intake of breath. "Well, we're not getting any younger." Daisy replied, watching her hot chocolate swirl back and forth as she moved it in a circular motion back and forth.</p><p>"I guess not." He said, smiling as he gazed around the room again. He was fascinated. Almost all of the buildings he had ever been in after his freeze was modern, and cold. But the library was warm, and it reminded him so much of his home before he was shipped away to fight. It was like his mother's old house, the one that he had grown up in, the one that Bucky would always come to to pick him up.</p><p>"You should get some rest. I'm sure even superheroes need the basic needs of a human." She laughed quietly, taking the two glasses into the kitchen before coming back into the main room. "C'mon. I cleaned up the bed upstairs yesterday." Steve stood up, brushing the warmth of the blanket away from his body and following the woman up the stairs.</p><p>She opened the door to the upstairs and revealed a small room with a queen-sized bed. It had the same idea as the main area of the library, and it even had an on-suite bathroom.</p><p>"You can leave anytime you want in the morning." Steve nodded, taking off his shoes and sitting on the bed. "Goodnight, and good morning if you leave before I can say it tomorrow."</p><p>Before she turned around to leave, Steve spoke. "Thank you, again. I know that it was just a bad case of fangirls and boys but thank you. You probably saved me from my arm going numb from signing my name over and over again."</p><p>Daisy smiled, leaning against the doorframe. "Anytime, Captain Rogers." She smirked and left, closing the door softly behind her before walking back downstairs. Daisy pulled a few blankets over the couch along with a couple pillows and extinguished the fire, blowing out all of the candles and curling up onto the long yellow couch.</p><p>The curtains blew against the open windows, making Daisy shiver before curling into the blankets further for warmth. The wind was strong, but not strong enough to visibly move anything lighter than the curtains and the leaves of the plants sitting on the windowsills.</p><p>Daisy had a bit of trouble falling asleep, just dreaming about the day she would maybe meet her soulmate. She felt under the covers and saw her golden soulmate string, but it was gone before she could chase it. With that, she sighed, laying her head back down on the pillow.</p><p>Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of chasing her empty thoughts, she dozed off, gazing into oblivion.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>CANDLE WAX AND POLAROIDS ON THE HARDWOOD FLOOR,<br/>YOU AND ME FOREVERMORE.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗬</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>HEY, STEVEN,<br/>BOY, YOU MIGHT HAVE ME BELIEVING<br/>I DON'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ALONE.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWO<br/>THE LIBRARY<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>A few days later, Daisy stood wiping down the tables in the library, making sure to greet everyone that walked in with a warm smile. She cleaned up the dirty tea mugs and watered each of the plants, making short and polite conversation with the people reading, studying, or just enjoying the warmth from the fireplace.</p><p>She sat down at the piano, playing a tune she had made up herself. Every once in a while, she messed up the notes, but it just made her laugh and start over. People had always told her she had musical talent, but she always counteracted it with <em>'If I did, don't you think my soulmate would've even thought of me by now?' </em>That usually made them go silent.</p><p>Daisy continued to play a melody of a bunch of different songs she had written down, another musical skill of hers was definitely writing songs. She prided herself in it, but only to a point where she'd stay humble.</p><p>She stopped playing and sipped on her tea, immersing herself in a conversation with one of the regulars.</p><p>"How are the kids, Molly?" Daisy asked, turning her piano bench around so she could face the woman she was talking to.</p><p>"Good, good. Beverly's going into high school, the twins, Harley and Marina are going into middle school, it's the best I could hope for them after The Battle of New York."</p><p>Oh, did I forget to mention? Molly's wife had been lost in the battle, and he was announced officially dead a few days later. She was in despair and took the kids to the library, and that's where she met Daisy.</p><p>"That's good! Wow, Beverly's growing up so fast. Last time I saw her she was still in middle school! Little thing."</p><p>Molly chuckled, remembering the days when her daughter would laugh and play around the living room in their farmhouse upstate. "Yes, she's a grown lady now. The issue is- she's really understanding the whole <em>'Your mother passed away fighting in a battle of aliens' </em>thing. She's distancing herself... I'm scared." She confessed, leaning her head into her hands.</p><p>"It's all going to be okay." Daisy replied, leaning forward and putting a hand on Molly's shoulder empathetically. "She's gonna realize that she did what she could. She got forty people out of that building when it was being attacked, <em>forty </em>people. That's a lot. Beverly will know that her mother was a hero, even if she wasn't alive to hear someone say that."</p><p>"I guess you're right." Molly sighed, standing up and grabbing her purse. "I have to go, my lunch break is almost over, but thank you for the usual pep-talk, Daisy. It means a lot."</p><p>Daisy nodded, standing up and walking her friend to the door. "It's no problem. You'd do the same for me."</p><p>"I would. You know that, right?" Molly asked, stopping as Daisy opened the door for her. She squinted due to the light that poured into the library.</p><p>"I know." They hugged and Molly left the building, waving through the glass before turning onto the sidewalk and hopping in her car, speeding off.</p><p>Daisy walked back inside, shivering from the cold winter breeze. She stepped over towards the fireplace and warmed herself up, pulling her leather jacket on over her dress. It didn't help a lot, but it combated the shivers she got every once in a while.</p><p>After her body had warmed up a bit, Daisy retreated to the kitchen, brewing a quick cup of tea and pouring it into one of her china mugs, taking it to her regular seat and sitting back down.</p><p>"Excuse me, miss?" Daisy smiled at the small child tugging on her dress. "Do you have any books about the Avengers?"</p><p>Daisy nodded, walking her over to the history bookshelf. "If you look at this book," She spoke, handing her one. "There's a <em>bunch </em>of stuff about Captain America!"</p><p>The kid grinned ear-to-ear, grabbing the book with her tiny hands. "Who's your favourite Avenger miss?" She asked, making Daisy think for a moment.</p><p>"Definitely Black Widow." She answered, winking at the kid. "Who's your favourite?"</p><p>"I like Hulk! He's big, strong, and smart!"</p><p>"What's your name?" The woman asked, smiling at the girl.</p><p>"My name is Ella!" She exclaimed, showing off her missing tooth. "I got four whole dollars from the tooth fairy last night! I'm rich!"</p><p>Daisy laughed. "Well it's nice to meet you Ella. I'm Daisy." Ella held out her hand and had a fake-serious face on. Daisy chuckled and faked a serious face as well, shaking her hand professionally before both bursting into laughter.</p><p>The two calmed down quickly and it took a minute for Ella to regain her breath. "Can I tell you a secret?" Daisy whispered, leaning down to the kid's level. She nodded, grinning ear-to-ear. "I met Captain America."</p><p>The girl gasped. "Really?!" She whisper-yelled, her eyes sparkling with happiness and interest.</p><p>With that, the kid ran off towards her mom, eagerly showing her the book that Daisy had picked out. The woman smiled and went back to her seat, opening the book she had gotten out about soulmates.</p><p>Almost perfectly, as she opened the page her pinkie began to glow, showing a golden string pointing outside of the library. Daisy sighed as it disappeared once more. The night that Steve stayed over was the first time she had ever seen the string, and it was a relief to know that her soulmate existed, let alone knew who she was.</p><p>The bell rang above the door and Daisy paid no mind to it, basking in the information in the book. She read about how the first person to ever discover what the strings meant found out about their soulmate, and read about millions of celebrities who had fallen in love with people other than their soulmates.</p><p>Daisy shut the book and walked into the kitchen, refilling her tea. She caught a glimpse of the person who stepped into the library earlier, it was Steve Rogers again. She looked at him in confusion as her tea finished steeping, taking it back into the library and opening her book again.</p><p>"Excuse me, ma'am?" Daisy looked up at the superhero, taking him aback, not really expecting to see her, even though it was <em>her </em>library. "Do you have any books from the 1920's? Anything related to the World War?" He asked.</p><p>She nodded, shutting her book again and standing up. "Basically this whole row of books is that timeframe, but this whole shelf is just general history." She explained, showing him the bookcase and pulling out a few books. "Knock yourself out."</p><p>He took the books and Daisy walked back to her seat for the millionth time, poking at the fire before sitting back down and opening her book again.</p><p>As she gazed around the library, her string appeared again, this time, it was pointing into the library somewhere. It was gone before she could follow it once more, eliciting a deep sigh from the woman.</p><p>After a while, more and more people filed out of the library as it got darker and darker outside. It became cold in the library, so Daisy lit up a few more candles and fed the fire.</p><p>Soon enough, Steve was the only customer sitting in the library, still reading the same book, stuck on the same page. It was like he was stopped in time, not even reading anymore.</p><p>Daisy approached him, patting his shoulder. "Sorry to say, but we close in ten minutes. You can take that book home if you want." He nodded in response, seemingly snapping out of his trance and shutting the history book.</p><p>"Thank you, I appreciate it ma'am." He spoke in gratitude, smiling at Daisy.</p><p>"I'm Daisy Stone. It's nice to properly meet you." Steve nodded, shaking the young librarian's hand.</p><p>"Steve Rogers." Their hands pulled apart and Steve left, waving through the door before he shut it. Daisy sighed and started closing up, cleaning up the dishes and putting away all of the books left on tables. She quenched the fire in water and put out all of the candles, turning off all of the lights before leaving the library.</p><p>The walk back to her house wasn't bad, it was still quite light out so she didn't need to rely on street lamps to keep her straight on the sidewalk. Daisy stopped in front of a beautiful brick building, entering and meeting the warm smell of dinner.</p><p>She sat down and read down the menu and spotted a cheeseburger that looked <em>delicious</em>. The waitress approached her small booth, pouring her a glass of water before taking out her notepad and talking.</p><p>"What can I get you?" She asked, her voice kind and warm. Daisy saw a spark behind her eyes, knowing that it was the spark she saw with everyone who had met their soulmates.</p><p>Daisy sighed. "I'll have the jumbo cheeseburger with extra bacon and a black coffee, please, it's been a long day." The waitress smiled and left, leaving Daisy to pull out her phone and start texting Gray.</p><p>
  <em>'Hey, how's the wedding planning going?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'AWFUL! It's just a week until the wedding and everythings gone haywire! The DJ cancelled, and so Jo is already trying to find one, and I don't even fit in my dress anymore!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Wait, Gray, why don't you fit in your dress? You put yourself on a strict workout schedule as soon as Jo popped the question!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Oh shit. I was going to tell you at the wedding but... I'm pregnant.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'GRAY! OH MY GOD I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'I know right! I'm so excited!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Okay, don't worry. Me and all the other bridesmaids will be there the morning of your wedding, so I'll call a tailor to come in and fix your dress. Everything will be okay! It's gonna be perfect.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'God Daisy, what would I do without you?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'You wouldn't be getting married!'</em>
</p><p>For a few moments while Gray was still typing, she reminisced on how she met Jo, then how she met Gray back in highschool, then how she introduced the two and found out they were soulmates. The same night, Daisy wailed in her bed and sobbed violently, jealous of how all of her friends had found their soulmates, while she hadn't even seen her string once.</p><p>Gray finally texted back.<em> 'Wait... I have possibly the best idea ever!'</em></p><p>
  <em>'Shoot.'</em>
</p><p><em>'YOU should sing at our wedding. You </em>were <em>the one to introduce us to each other in the first place, anyway!'</em></p><p>
  <em>'No way. I've only sang publicly at the library! No way Gray.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Please? You're the maid of honour! You're supposed to make the wedding perfect for the bride and groom. Plus, you owe me a few.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'...Fine. But on one condition.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Okay. What's the condition?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'That your music list is not totally absurd.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Pssh. I have great taste in music. Deal.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Okay, was that all you needed to talk about, Gray?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Actually, no.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Then what's up?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Me and Jo were wondering if you wanted to go on a blind date! We'd set you up with one of our mutuals, and maybe we'd arrange a dinner for you two!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Absolutely not Gray.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'But Daisy!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'I want to meet my soulmate the way it was destined to be. I have a first ounce of hope that I'm not going to be alone for the rest of my life. My string appeared yesterday and today, and honestly, I don't think I can just go off and date someone who I know isn't my soulmate. If I did, it would have to be with someone I trust fully. Not just some guy you and Jo are friends with.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Can you hear me sigh through iMessages? Not all people find their soulmates, Daisy. Some even end up with other people and are happier than ever!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Yeah, but that's a different story, Gray. I want to meet my soulmate before I make any rash decisions.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'They know who you are, though! They thought of you!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Maybe they're a friend of yours and heard about me from you blabbering on about your life story.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Yes, but wouldn't that be a reason why you should go on this blind date?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Okay, I'm turning off my phone now.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Promise you'll think about it?'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Have a good night, Gray.'</em>
</p><p>As soon as she logged off of her phone, Daisy's meal was placed in front of her. She quickly thanked the waitress and dug in, sipping on the coffee every once in a while as she devoured the burger.</p><p>Daisy finished her dinner quickly, placing two twenty dollar bills on the table before leaving, brushing the crumbs off of her white dress and leather jacket as she walked down the street, continuing her path towards her home.</p><p>Finally, she pulled the corner to her brown paneled apartment building, walking up the long staircase and unlocking her door. It was like the library but on a smaller scale. Filled with plants and fake candles, and not many electronics.</p><p>Daisy took her boots and jacket off, leaving to her small bedroom to change into a shirt and shorts to sleep in.</p><p>After a while of laying on her bed and contemplating the meaning of life, Daisy got back up and retreated to her living room, turning up the heat and microwaving one of the cakes she had in her fridge from Gray and Jo's wedding taste testing.</p><p>As soon as the microwave beeped, Daisy grabbed out her slice of cake and shoved it in her mouth, opening up her phone to see a missed voicemail from Jo.</p><p>She clicked the button to listen to it. <em>"Hey. Gray is very excited to get out of the house, she's been cooped up since she started planning with me, so she's very happy that you're picking her up the night before instead of the morning of the wedding. Also, thanks for agreeing to play the music at our wedding, I'll send the list of songs. Thanks for everything, Daisy. Also, I walked by the library and you were staring at your pinkie. Good luck with finding your soulmate as always, they'll come around sometime. Goodnight."</em></p><p>The phone clicked and Daisy pulled it away from her face, putting her phone back on the table as she finished off the rest of her slice of cake. It was too bad Jo and Gray hadn't chosen the cake that Daisy had just finished off for their wedding cake, it was <em>delicious</em>.</p><p>She got up and put her hair into a loose ponytail, opening one of her apartment windows, grabbing a blanket before she stepped up onto the roof from the fire escape.</p><p>The stars were visible, and Daisy marveled at the sight of the beautiful nebulas plastered across the sky. She huddled onto the roof, curling up in her thick blanket and gazing up at the sky, enjoying a few moments of silence.</p><p>Living in New York, Daisy never really got a lot of quiet time to herself, but every night she would come up onto the roof, just to enjoy the sounds of just the few cars and the rain sometimes. If it rained, she would still sit up there, drenching herself.</p><p>After a few minutes passed, she lost herself in her thoughts. Bouncing back from topic to topic in an endless battle in her mind. She leaned back, head hitting the concrete lightly. It was peaceful. At least, to Daisy.</p><p>She got up about thirty minutes later, yawning in exhaustion. Daisy walked back down the fire escape carefully, she was on a higher floor, after all. She leaped into the apartment and put her blanket on one of the couches.</p><p>Retreating to her bedroom, Daisy groaned as her phone went off again, she was looking forward to sleeping.</p><p>She opened her phone and squinted at the bright light, contrasting with the darkness of her room. The email app opened and she read the text.</p><p>
  <em>'Hello Daisy Stone. This is a representative from Virgin Atlantic. Sadly, your application to become an on-call flight attendant has been disapproved. You didn't match our qualifications, despite your three years in experience. Thank you for understanding. From, Virgin Atlantic.'</em>
</p><p>Daisy sighed, rubbing her eyes and placing her phone back on her bed. As she shut the curtains in her room, she let her mind wander again. All she wanted to do was travel for a few years because she never got to take a gap year. Now that she had a bit of extra money, she wanted to fly around the world, and she felt like getting a job at an airline was her best bet.</p><p>Low and behold, the fifth airline she had done an interview for had declined her, and even though she had a stable job at the library, the landlord of the block was debating whether or not to sell it off and lay off all of the people working in the building.</p><p>Daisy laid down in bed, taking a few NyQuil pills in order to escape from her thoughts before dozing off, head sinking into the pillow even further.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>I CAN'T HELP IT IF YOU LOOK LIKE AN ANGEL,<br/>CAN'T HELP IT IF I WANNA KISS YOU IN THE RAIN.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. 𝗔 𝗪𝗘𝗗𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>DON'T SAY 'YES', RUN AWAY NOW,<br/>I'LL MEET YOU WHEN I'M OUT OF THE CHURCH AT THE BACK DOOR.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER THREE<br/>A WEDDING<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>Gray squealed in delight as she spun around in her wedding dress, looking through the full length mirror and meeting eyes with her maid of honour, Daisy. It was a beautiful dress. Not too poofy, but loose enough to let her breathe.</p><p>"Thanks for fixing it up. It was super last minute, I know." Gray breathed out, brushing her fingers through her perfectly curled hair.</p><p>Daisy laughed. "It <em>was </em>very last minute. I can't play the music for the aisle since I <em>am </em>the maid of honour, so I'll just play it on a bluetooth speaker, is that okay?"</p><p>The bride nodded, fixing up her veil sitting atop her head. "Sounds good." She replied, finishing the last touches to her makeup. "Okay girls! Let's do this thing!"</p><p>The rest of the bridesmaids yelled in glee and left the room, leaving Daisy to lead behind and hold the back of Gray's dress and veil.</p><p>"You look gorgeous." Gray's dad spoke as they met up with him at the doors of the church. She smiled in gratitude, linking their arms together.</p><p>Daisy let go of her veil, instructing the flower girls on how to hold it properly. "Try not to wrinkle it, and if you do this all, I'll sneak you a gummy bear." Both of the girls licked their lips and nodded rapidly, gripping the veil lightly as Daisy had told them to.</p><p>"Last chance to back out, Gray." Daisy spoke, patting the bride's shoulder. "It's time to spend the rest of your life with your soulmate."</p><p>Gray breathed in deeply. "Never been more ready." They flashed smiles at each other and Daisy pressed play on her phone, hearing the loud traditional music from the hall.</p><p>Jo's parents walked down the aisle first, hand-in-hand. His mother wore a beautiful dark teal ankle-length dress, and his father had a simple full-black tuxedo on. They shot a smile and a wink at Daisy as they were halfway to their front row seats.</p><p>Gray's mother kissed her husband on the cheek before walking down the aisle, her cream coloured floor-length dress brushing the tiling ever so slightly.</p><p>Jo's best man walked down the aisle, wearing a white and black tuxedo. He was followed by the rest of the groomsmen, all matching but with full black and white handkerchiefs in their pocket, all four of them standing at the altar.</p><p>The groomsmen and the best man were followed by Gray's bridesmaids, stopping and standing at the altar on the bride's side.</p><p>Daisy walked down the aisle in her dark lavender dress, lace covering her neck and short-sleeved shoulders. She attempted to smile at everyone, but definitely missed a few faces, as she'd grow to learn later. Daisy had daisies held in her hands, per Gray's request of '<em>Having a good pun'. </em>She chuckled to herself as she remembered the conversation, and stood beside the officiant at the altar.</p><p>Daisy laughed to herself as two of the four flower girls waddled down the aisle, tossing different assortments of petals down the tiled floor.</p><p>The family and friends gathered in the chapel stood up, watching as Gray walked down the aisle with her father. Daisy had never seen her look so gorgeous and happy at the same time as she stopped in front of Jo, kissing her father's cheek before letting him sit down.</p><p>The bride and groom held hands as the officiant began to speak. "Please be seated." Everyone did as he told, placing their hands in their laps respectively. "We're all here today to celebrate the relationship of Gray Collins and Jo Carson and to be witnesses and supporters of the commitment they share with one another. Together, we're a group of the most important people in their lives, and they've bought us here to publicly recognize that we've all played some special part in the love they share today."</p><p>As the officiant spoke, Daisy glanced around the room. She met the eyes of a few unfamiliar and familiar faces.</p><p>Four people sat beside each other that she didn't recognize. One with a buzzcut and a bit of facial hair, one with fiery red hair and a gorgeous red dress, and another person sitting beside them with more distinctive features.</p><p>Daisy couldn't figure out the fourth figure's face, it was a bit blurry from all the way in the back, so she focused back on the ceremony.</p><p>"Gray Collins and Jo Carson, the vows that you are about to make are a way to share your love and commitment to each other in your own words." Gray turned around and Daisy handed her the vows that she had written a few weeks prior to the ceremony. "Ladies first."</p><p>"Jo. From the moment we met, even when we didn't know we were soulmates, I knew that you were the one for me. So from now, I promise to always treat you like the day we met and the day we fell in love. I swear my life to you, and I promise to always tell you the truth, even if that means a little <em>too </em>much information." She laughed. Daisy was beginning to cry. "I love you with all of my heart, Jo Carson. And I can't wait to share your last name and the rest of your life."</p><p>The last of the vows she had written was plagued with voice cracks, tears beginning to stream down her face, stained black due to her mascara. Daisy handed the bride a tissue and she patted her cheeks, being careful not to wipe off her foundation.</p><p>"Jo Carson, please speak your vows."</p><p>Jo was already crying, sniffling in between every word he spoke. "Gray. I have loved you since we met. I promise to make everyday perfect for you, even when it feels like it couldn't get any worse. I promise to always be on time for your delicious dinners, and will be there to cook you breakfast in bed on Sunday mornings." He choked up, more tears falling down his pale complexion. "I will make everyday like heaven for you, my darling. I swear on the very Earth that helps me stand."</p><p>The couple were then both in tears, holding onto each other's hands like it was the last time they'd see each other.</p><p>"The rings." They were both handed their other's rings by the ring-bearer. "Jo, repeat after me please. I, Jo Carson."</p><p>"I, Jo Carson."</p><p>"Take you, Gray Collins."</p><p>"Take you, Gray Collins."</p><p>"To be my wedded wife."</p><p>"To be my wedded wife."</p><p>"To love and to cherish."</p><p>"To love and to cherish."</p><p>"For better or worse."</p><p>"For better or worse."</p><p>"For richer or poorer."</p><p>"For richer or poorer."</p><p>"In sickness and in health."</p><p>"In sickness and in health."</p><p>"From this day forward."</p><p>"From this day forward."</p><p>As they finished, Jo placed the ring onto Gray's finger, grasping her fingers tightly again before releasing them again.</p><p>"Gray, repeat after me, please." She nodded. "I, Gray Collins."</p><p>"I, Gray Collins."</p><p>"Take you, Jo Carson."</p><p>"Take you, Jo Carson."</p><p>"To be my wedded husband."</p><p>"To be my wedded husband."</p><p>"To love and to cherish."</p><p>"To love and to cherish."</p><p>"For better or worse."</p><p>"For better or worse."</p><p>"For richer or poorer."</p><p>"For richer or poorer."</p><p>"In sickness and in health."</p><p>"In sickness and in health."</p><p>"From this day forward."</p><p>"From this day forward."</p><p>Gray slipped on Jo's ring, more tears cascading down her cheeks. Daisy felt a heart-wrenching emotion pulling at her chest, and she watched as her soulmate string appeared again. Once more, like the first time, it was gone as soon as it had come, almost like it wasn't there to begin with, but Daisy knew what she saw.</p><p>"For as much as Jo Carson and Gray Collins have consented together in matrimony and have witnessed the same before those present, and have pledged their faithfulness each to each other and have declared their love by giving and receiving rings, I know, by the authority committed onto me as a minister, declare that Jo Carson and Gray Collins are now husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."</p><p>The whole chapel was immersed in loud clapping noises, all of the women and men standing up out of their seats as Jo and Gray sealed their marriage with a kiss.</p><p>"I now introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Carson!"</p><p>Daisy and the rest of the bridesmaids walked down the aisle, watching as Gray turned her back to them and prepared to throw the bouquet. To be honest, Daisy really didn't feel the need to catch it that night, she felt that it would be important to her friend, so she lined up nonetheless.</p><p>"One... Two... Three!"</p><p>Gray immediately turned around as she threw the flowers, excited to see which one of her friends would be getting married first.</p><p>The bouquet arrangement of gorgeous flowers was flung into the air, emitting small petals and leaves to fall off onto some of the guests. Daisy smiled as she watched as someone caught it, clapping her hands only to feel that they were full.</p><p>She had caught the bouquet.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>AND YOU SAY 'LET'S RUN AWAY NOW,'<br/>'I'LL MEET YOU WHEN I'M OUT OF MY TUX, AT THE BACK DOOR'.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. 𝗔𝗡 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗬</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>YOUR EYES WHISPERED 'HAVE WE MET?'<br/>ACROSS THE ROOM, YOUR SILHOUETTE<br/>STARTS TO MAKE ITS WAY TO ME.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER FOUR<br/>AN AFTERPARTY<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>After the ceremony, Steve stood awkwardly beside Sam, holding a small glass full of alcohol in his hand. The only reason why he was invited was because Natasha had invited Sam, then told him she had a date, and then he needed someone to go with. It was a whole mess.</p><p>"So? What's the verdict?" Sam asked. "See any cute chicks you wanna take home?"</p><p>Steve rolled his eyes. "Sam, I'm not like that, and you know it." He replied, taking a sip from his drink.</p><p>"Well, you can't blame me for trying to get you some action for the first time in seventy years, cap." He stated, smirking at the blonde.</p><p>On the other side of the room, Daisy sat at the piano, looking back and forth at the wedding song list. They still had to do their toasts, but she was still nervous.</p><p>"You don't have to play if you don't want to." Jo said, approaching Daisy with two drinks in his hands. "I can just play some music from my phone."</p><p>Daisy shook her head. "No way! I'm here to make sure your wedding is perfect." Jo chuckled and handed her a drink, watching her sip slowly from it.</p><p>"Come and sit down. You need to make your maid of honour toast."</p><p>Daisy's eyes widened. "Shit! My cue cards! I left them at home!" She panicked, hands shaking and threatening to crush the glass in her hands.</p><p>"Woah woah woah." Joe spoke, trying to calm his friend down. "You'll be fine. You know us, you know what we've been through, to be honest, you've third wheeled every date we had." She chuckled. "You know us better than anyone. You'll be okay." Daisy nodded, gulping down the rest of her drink.</p><p>"Let's do this." She said, smiling at Jo before sitting down next to Gray in her maid of honour spot, grasping the champagne and hitting the glass lightly with a fork.</p><p>She stood up. "I've told nobody this, and I was saving it for this speech." Daisy cleared her throat. "The day that I told Gray and Jo that they should meet, she told me that she saw her string for the first time. That was the moment I knew that they were meant for each other." She spoke, smiling down at the table before looking up again. "Even though they didn't find out they were soulmates until much later, they were as happy together then as they are now."</p><p>Gray smiled sadly, tears threatening to fall down her face. "All of us can learn something from these two. It's that no matter what, the love never changes. Whether it's your first date or your hundredth, you're still the two lovesick teenagers I pushed together all those years ago."</p><p>"To the bride and groom!" Daisy yelled.</p><p>"To the bride and groom!" The guests echoed as she sat down, immediately being pulled into a hug by Gray and Jo.</p><p>"Ouch- Okay, I need to breath." She laughed, watching as the best man made a speech, as well.</p><p>Steve looked at her from the other end of the room on one of the guest tables, remembering her from a few days before. She was the one that had let him stay over at her library when he was being chased by crazed fangirls. And she was also the person who had given him the book about Bucky.</p><p>Sam tapped Steve's shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts. "Hey, it's the first dance." Steve nodded, standing up and grabbing his champagne before making his way to the semi-circle the guests had created around the couple.</p><p>Daisy sat at the piano, placing the sheet of the music onto the piano and putting her fingers on the keys. She was hesitant to sing, but she had to. It was her best friend's wedding.</p><p><em>"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream..." </em>She smiled through the words as Gray and Jo danced their first dance as a married couple.</p><p>Natasha came up to stand beside Steve and Sam. "I don't even know these people, but they seem like good humans."</p><p>"What do you mean by 'good humans'?" Sam asked, looking across from Steve to Natasha.</p><p>She laughed. "I mean that they're one of the <em>very </em>few people in this world who don't want to kill us." Steve smiled, picking at his fingers as he sipped on his drink.</p><p>"Get this, Nat." Sam spoke after a few moments of silence between the group, the only noise flowing through being the music. "Steve was <em>totally </em>making goo-goo eyes at the maid of honour." He gossiped.</p><p>Natasha stifled a laugh. "Oh, really? Well maybe you can score a dance later." She winked, causing Steve to roll his eyes.</p><p>"I was not making 'goo-goo eyes' at the maid of honour. We bumped into each other a few times, I just recognized her."</p><p>Sam scoffed. "Yeah, right."</p><p>"And besides..." He continued, glaring at Sam. "I'm still waiting to find my soulmate."</p><p>"Wasn't Peggy your soulmate? If you don't mind me asking." Natasha asked, no longer joking about. She was stepping around eggshells, and she knew it.</p><p>Steve sighed. "No, I never saw a golden string, but back then I didn't think I'd live long enough to see it even once. I was unhealthy and I was getting beaten up in every back alley in Brooklyn." He explained, chewing at his lip.</p><p>The three didn't even notice that the first dance had ended. They only noticed as the people around the group started filing into the circle, dancing, talking and singing along to the music.</p><p><em>"Friday night and the lights are low..." </em>Despite the seemingly excitable crowd, Steve still had no clue what the songs were that were being played from the piano.</p><p>As he finished his champagne, Steve saw his pinkie finger glow gold with a string attached to it.</p><p>It wasn't the first time he had seen it. The first time was after he had gotten pulled out of the ice, as soon as the news hit the air, the golden string had appeared on his pinkie. Before he went down in the plane, though, he hadn't seen it.</p><p>On the other side of the room, Daisy sipped on her alcohol in between songs, trying not to get too drunk, but just enough that she'd feel a little buzz in the back of her head.</p><p>"So... um..." She spoke, gaining the attention of the guests. "This song isn't on the list, but it's a song I wrote the night after Gray and Jo announced their engagement, and I swore to myself I'd sing it on their wedding night."</p><p><em>"One look, dark room..." </em>The newly married couple smiled, touched by the fact that their friend was performing a song made for them and only them.</p><p>Natasha had already run off with her date, leaving Steve and Sam by themselves. The latter immediately gave the other a glare. "Nuh uh. Just because it's a slow song, does <em>not </em>mean I am dancing with you of all people. Go get the maid of honour or something." With that, Sam walked away, leaving Steve to pick at his nails with an empty glass in his hand.</p><p>He put the glass back onto his table, standing awkwardly against the chair. Parties were never his forte, but he knew that Sam would've been lonely without a partner to go to the ceremony with. But, he had to admit, he was getting better with crowds due to all of Tony's parties, so in some way, he had them to thank.</p><p>A few hours passed, and it was late in the night. The time flew for Steve, and Daisy had seen her string appear every few minutes against the keys on the piano. Everyone went home, besides Steve and Daisy, the both of them standing outside in the rain, waiting for their separate buses.</p><p>If only they had walked around that corner, they might've found out sooner.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>THIS NIGHT IS SPARKLING, DON'T YOU LET IT GO.<br/></b>
  <b>I'M WONDERSTRUCK, BLUSHING ALL THE WAY HOME.<br/></b>
  <b>I'LL SPEND FOREVER WONDERING IF YOU KNEW,<br/></b>
  <b>I WAS ENCHANTED TO MEET YOU.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. 𝗔 𝗖𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘?</h2></a>
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  <b>WALKING THROUGH A CROWD<br/>THE VILLAGE IS AGLOW.<br/>KALEIDOSCOPE OF LOUD<br/>HEARTBEATS UNDER COATS.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER FIVE<br/>A COINCIDENCE?<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>Daisy stood in the chilly streets of Washington, trying to find her way around. It was still early in the new year, so she was glad she had dressed in warm clothing, but the sun was going down, and she was already freezing cold.</p><p>After a while of walking, Daisy's feet began to blister under her heels. She was supposed to be going to Washington for a potential job interview, but the plans had fallen through, and she had nowhere to stay for the night.</p><p>She approached a twenty-four hour ATM and stepped in, breathing out in relief as the warm air surrounded her body.</p><p>"If F.R.I.E.N.D.S. has taught me anything, it's to stay in an ATM." Daisy spoke to herself, sitting on one of the desks, hanging her legs off the side. She admired her outfit, it would've been perfect for the interview. A white t-shirt and a gray blazer with a matching skirt.</p><p>Maybe she wouldn't have aced the interview even if it had happened, but a nice hotel room would have been better than a dirty ATM office.</p><p>She pulled out her phone and tried to call Gray and Jo, but her call went quickly to voicemail. Daisy realized she had no service and groaned, sniffing as her nose ran from the chilly air.</p><p>The door opened, letting more chilly air in. Who the hell would come in an ATM other than an insane person? Daisy shivered and pulled the thin blazer closer to her arms, her feet numbing once again from the cold.</p><p>"Are you stuck here, too?" She turned and saw <em>Steve Rogers. </em>"Oh, it's you again." He laughed, sitting down at the desk across from Daisy.</p><p>"Yup. It's way too cold to try and find a hotel around here." She responded, repositioning her hands to sit in her lap. "I guess we keep meeting."</p><p>He nodded, watching her lean against the wall, her eyes drooping. "So what's your story? How'd you get in a twenty-four hour ATM at almost midnight?"</p><p>Daisy chuckled. "I had a job interview but my flight was late. And so, I couldn't check into my hotel room for that reason. There I was, half asleep, blistered feet from these damn heels." She complained, pulling off her gray stilettos as she talked. "And I found an ATM." She paused. "What about you?"</p><p>"The president wanted to meet the Avengers for a discussion on the medal of honours that we are going to be given next month, but Tony, Iron Man, forgot to book us all a hotel, since he has a holiday home here in Washington." Steve answered, fiddling with his fingers. "So, here I am, in an ATM with the woman I can't stop bumping into." He laughed.</p><p>They stayed in silence for a few moments, Daisy shivering harder and harder as the time went on. Even though the building was warmer than the outside, it was still around one in the morning in February.</p><p>"Here." Steve spoke, tossing his jacket towards Daisy. She smiled lightly and pulled the jacket through her arms, not noticing the glowing string attaching herself to the man across from him.</p><p>"Thank you." She replied, immediately loving the wash of warmth covering her body. Daisy's nose was still bright red, but she was warming up quite a bit.</p><p>"So..." Steve started, not really knowing how to start a conversation. "I saw you at the wedding a few weeks ago. You're a really talented musician."</p><p>Daisy smiled. "Thank you, it means a lot." She replied. "The bride and groom are my best friends, I wanted to do something special for them, since they've been there for me my whole life."</p><p>"I get that." Steve said. "Way back when I was a kid-"</p><p>"So like, five hundred years ago?" Daisy snickered, earning a hardcore eyeroll from the man on the desk across from her.</p><p>"My mom got remarried when I was six I think... It's been so long I can't remember." He laughed. "I was going to the wedding and I decided it would be an amazing idea to paint them and put it up right above the archway."</p><p>"No way!"</p><p>Steve nodded, watching as Daisy's face turned into one of disbelief. "I was a <em>horrible </em>artist, but I still wanted to become one, so I snuck it in and the only people who noticed were the guests, and they didn't say anything about it!" By this time, Daisy was clutching her stomach in laughter. "And the only time something was said was when my mom and my step dad walked down the aisle and they looked up in horror at my beautiful creation."</p><p>Daisy almost fell off of the desk, but held herself up with her arms behind her. "Oh my god, that is <em>too </em>funny." She looked up, cocking her head to the side. "Actually, now that I think about it, I can imagine you doing that."</p><p>"Really?"</p><p>She nodded in response. "My friend, a huge superfan of the Avengers may I add, told me at some point that you were an art student. I believe that was your spiritual awakening."</p><p>Steve laughed. "My 'spiritual awakening'?"</p><p>"Yup." Daisy spoke. "The big thing that made you really want to be an artist."</p><p>"My old best friend kind of got me into art. He was at that wedding." He spoke, peaking Daisy's interest once again. "I think he was the one who convinced me to do it, but I can't remember."</p><p>"How long has it been?" Daisy asked, more seriously that time.</p><p>Steve pondered, doing the math in his head quickly. "Eighty-eight years. I was six in 1924 I believe. Math was never my strong suit." He laughed.</p><p>"Seems about right." Daisy commented, moving her feet back and forth.</p><p>"Okay, your turn."</p><p>Daisy shot her head up. "My turn? For what?"</p><p>"Embarrassing childhood memories." Steve answered, making Daisy chuckle a bit. "Everyone has them, no matter how old they are."</p><p>"Okay, okay." Daisy coughed, clearing her throat. "I guess there's this one time..."</p><p>The woman across from Steve laughed, leaning her head back and rolling it back forward. "Okay, so for some context, my friends, the ones who got married a few weeks ago, Gray and Jo didn't know each other, but they knew me." She explained. "Anyway, I was walking home as a freshman in highschool, and I walked into this small coffee shop."</p><p>"I decided it would be an amazing idea to get some coffee, even though my skinny body couldn't even handle large doses of sugar at once." Steve laughed, knowing the feeling. "So, by one in the morning, I had called Gray, the bride, three times, until the point where she thought I had been drugged, so she came to my window and threw stones against it."</p><p>Steve laughed. "Seriously?"</p><p>"Seriously!" Daisy exclaimed, chuckling along with him. "It ended up waking my parents up, and they weren't happy with my decisions."</p><p>"Well, I guess we're even on the whole 'embarrassing moments' topic." Steve stated.</p><p>"I guess we are."</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>IT'S A NEW SOUNDTRACK,</b>
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  <b>I COULD DANCE TO THIS BEAT FOREVERMORE.</b>
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  <b>THE LIGHTS ARE SO BRIGHT,</b>
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  <b>BUT THEY NEVER BLIND ME.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗔 𝗖𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>in steve's pov, whenever he talks about his soulmate i like to use they/them pronouns. i believe that steve was never truly fully straight (have you seen the way he looks at bucky?), but if you want to change the pronouns to she/her, do what you will.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>DO YOU REMEMBER, WE WERE SITTING THERE BY THE WATER?<br/>YOU PUT YOUR ARM AROUND ME FOR THE FIRST TIME.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER SIX<br/>NOT A COINCIDENCE<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>It was a cold and rainy day, and Daisy had finally gotten a job interview for the time being. Her library just wasn't providing enough money for her rent bills, so she had to go job searching.</p><p>There she sat, on the rocky shore coast of Lake Ontario. She enjoyed the rain, and by the water it was even better. Daisy tossed a few rocks into the lake, trying to skip them, but failing miserably. </p><p>After a few minutes of trying to skip stones, she retreated and brought out a book out of her backpack, basking in the muggy weather as she read about two people falling in love.</p><p>As she turned the page, Daisy saw her string glow from her pinkie finger. She wondered who was thinking of her and why.</p><p>A few feet behind her, Steve leant against his motorcycle. It had just run out of gas as soon as he reached the lake, he was on his way to Watertown, New York.</p><p>He sighed in defeat, thinking how similar that moment was to the way he got stuck in the ATM a few weeks before. His motorcycle had broken down that night, but it was still quite similar to the situation he was in.</p><p>Daisy had heard the loud humming of the motorcycle, but because it stopped, she only assumed it had driven past her.</p><p>Steve sat down against a nearby tree, both of the two not being able to see each other in a direct line of sight. As it rained, he took out his sketchbook, remembering the times that he'd be in the army alone and draw until he was called out.</p><p>Daisy became bored of her book quite quickly, placing it back into her backpack and instead pulling out her notebook and pencil. She loved to write short stories in her freetime, so her personal little journal helped her when she had bursts of ideas on the spot.</p><p>After a while of Steve sketching and Daisy writing, the latter decided to scan the area, looking around for interesting things or monuments around. She spotted Steve's figure sitting against the tree, but decided against going and saying hi. They hadn't talked since the whole ATM mishap, and maybe it was for the best that they never saw each other again.</p><p>Steve's string glowed bright yellow in that moment, lighting up the picture he was sketching and illuminating the few dots of rain that had splattered onto it. All of his pre-war life he had wondered why he had never seen a string, and by that moment, he had deducted it down into two things.</p><p>His soulmate <em>never </em>thought of him, therefore they would be about as old as Peggy unless they had gotten the Super Soldier Serum as well.</p><p>Or,</p><p>His soulmate wasn't born yet, and instead was his age during the twenty-first century.</p><p>Let's just say Steve hoped for the latter option.</p><p>Daisy rested her head onto her knees as Steve glanced around, wondering if the person who was thinking of him at that moment was near him.</p><p>The blonde woman's bangs fell into her eyes as a gust of wind breezed by, making her eyes flutter a bit from the impact and chill before they shut once more.</p><p>Steve saw the woman leaning against the tree next to him, her head was turned, though, so he couldn't quite make out who it was. Her backpack was strewn beside her with some contents spilling out. There was what looked like a book, a notepad, and a few pencils and pens on the rocky ground.</p><p>Snapping out of his gaze, he quickly shoved his sketchbook back away, not wanting to get it any more damp than it already was. Steve <em>was </em>under a tree, but a few droplets of rain slipped through the leaves every so often.</p><p>Daisy opened her eyes and placed her chin on her knees, watching as the rough waves crashed against the hard and rocky shore. The rain and fog added a perfect gloomy atmosphere, and she had to class that day as one of her favourites.</p><p>"Hi!" Steve decided to approach the woman, looking in shock as she turned her head, revealing Daisy, the woman who he kept bumping into.</p><p>She laughed. "Hey, Steve." Daisy's soft voice spoke, sending tremors into Steve's hands, making him feel all warm and fuzzy. "Come, sit." She patted the ground beside her as she talked, scooting over and letting Steve sit against the tree beside her.</p><p>They sat in silence for a few moments before Steve spoke, relieving Daisy. She <em>hated </em>being the first one to talk. "What brings you to a beach of all places on a horrible rainy day?" He asked, turning his head to look her in the eyes. She watched for a beat as his eyes danced with sparkles, almost mesmerizing her.</p><p>"Oh-Um-I-" Daisy spoke, her ears turning beet red from a mix of the cold and embarrassment. "I <em>finally </em>got another job interview after the whole Washington incident, and so I decided to take a detour off the road to this lake." She explained, pushing some of her blonde locks away from her eyes and turning towards Steve. "What about you?"</p><p>"My motorcycle ran out of gas, so I took the nearest exit, and here I am." He answered, turning from Daisy back to the ocean as silence washed over the two.</p><p>Steve smiled and chuckled. "We meet a lot, so I think we owe each other some information about ourselves."</p><p>Daisy laughed, nodding and agreeing with the man beside her. "Okay, well, since you <em>are </em>the superhero here, I think you should start. But, may I say, I <em>never </em>pay attention to the news or social media, so I know almost nothing about you. Carry on." Steve nodded, thankful to have someone in his life that he could talk with that didn't know all of his life stories.</p><p>"Well, I was born..." He started.</p><p>"Well I sure hope you were born! I don't want to be talking to the ghost of an unborn fetus!" Daisy scoffed, laughing along with Steve as his face broke into a smile.</p><p>He cleared his throat and began his story, for real that time. With every word he said, when he rambled on about different side stories about Bucky and The Howling Commandos, she would smile and listen on, even when he apologized for rambling. Daisy would simply chuckle and urge him on, genuinely interested in Steve's stories.</p><p>"This one time, Bucky took me to this huge science fair as kids. He <em>loved </em>that kind of stuff." Daisy watched with a loving smile on her face as he talked. The sparkle behind his eyes as he talked about James Barnes was one that couldn't be replaced, and she knew she probably had that same spark in her blue eyes when she mentioned Gray or Jo. "And anyway, he decided to try and  hijack the projects so that this one kid, who had mentioned he was getting bullied earlier in the day, could win. So by the end of the day, Bucky had sabotaged all of the other projects, and the kid won."</p><p>Daisy smiled. "Well that <em>is </em>mean, but that kid probably had the best project anyway."</p><p>"Yeah, his name was Henry Heimlich. I heard he was a big guy nowadays." Daisy gasped at Steve's statement, removing her cheek from her palm and looking at him in shock.</p><p>"Are you kidding?!" She asked, earning a simple shooken head from Steve. "He's the one who created the Heimlich maneuver! He saved millions of people just by creating a dance move essentially!"</p><p>Steve looked in confusion as she rambled on, admiring the warm and fuzzy feeling in his stomach and chest, embracing it. "He revolutionized home and workplace safety!"</p><p>Daisy stopped short, looking sheepishly at Steve. "I'm so sorry, my mom choked on a carrot once and almost died and I did the Heimlich maneuver, so it kind of saved her life."</p><p>"I don't even know the full story, but I'm sure the Heimlich maneuver did <em>not </em>save her life, you did." He softened, rubbing her shoulder in reassurance. Daisy smiled as her face flushed. Everyone had always praised the person who had made the move in the first place for her mother's health, but nobody had ever thanked her. She was just a child at the time, after all.</p><p>"Hey? Are you okay?" Steve waved his face politely in front of Daisy's face, shaking her out of her thoughts of the past.</p><p>"Yeah..." She reassured, rubbing her arm. "What did you say?"</p><p>"I asked what kind of stories you have. You've been sitting here listening to me talk and talk, so I think it's only fair for me to do the same."</p><p>Daisy chuckled, rolling up the sleeve of her coat and rubbing her wrist tattoo gently. "Well, a big part of something that you should know, was that my dad died when I was very young, and my mom never remarried. Trust me, I'm not looking for pity, you need this context."</p><p>Steve nodded. "I wouldn't assume anything else."</p><p>"Okay, so when I was a kid I loved to play with this boy called Clay. And he had a bunch of other friends, and I always wondered why he hung out with me because I was super unpopular at the time." Daisy shook her head, laughing a bit. "I don't know why I said 'at the time'. I'm still unpopular." She corrected, hurrying to finish the story as she saw Steve's interested face gazing into her eyes.</p><p>He watched as she gathered herself after speaking, trying to remember the pieces of the story. "Anyway, my mom decided one day, she wanted to come over and supervise a hangout with Clay and I, mainly because we were getting older and wanted to make sure that he and his family were safe." Steve nodded, watching as her red cheeks deepened in colour as the wind grew harsher and colder around them. "When my mom met Clay's dad, they immediately fell in love, and he became my step brother."</p><p>Daisy laughed as she remembered the look on her face when her mom explained what was going on, and how she was going to be having a brother. "I was shocked at first, but obviously he was my best friend, and we loved each other, as siblings, of course."</p><p>"Where is he now? As long as you don't mind me asking, of course." Steve asked, smiling lightly and making sure Daisy was okay with explaining.</p><p>"Yeah of course." She took a deep breath in. "We talk sometimes, maybe once or twice every two weeks, and last time he called he said he had gotten a decent following on social media."</p><p>Steve nodded, interested in this woman's life more than he was with anyone else. "That's really cool. I've never really gotten the fact that you can make money very easily off of doing what you like on the internet." He stated, resting his forearms against his knees and leaning back against the bark of the tree.</p><p>"It's very cool. Some of my old friends went to California just to try and get famous from that. Apparently some of them made it big, but I haven't talked to a lot of them in a while."</p><p>"Do you remember any of the ones that allegedly became famous?" Steve asked, surprising Daisy. He was genuinely interested in her life story. That was new.</p><p>She pondered for a moment, trying to remember all the names. "I think one's name was Mark, he was kind of quiet so I never got the chance to talk to him. The only other person he talked to also apparently got famous, but I can't remember his name, either. It started with a W, though." Daisy answered vaguely, most of her memories fuzzy.</p><p>"You should try to get into contact with some of them. Maybe they'd recognize you." Steve suggested, watching as Daisy picked at her nails, a habit she had picked up during her high school years.</p><p>"I doubt it. I have a generic face." She laughed, shivering as a rush of cold air hit her exposed neck.</p><p>Steve looked at her in empathy, taking off his scarf and wrapping it around her neck. "Here. It's way too cold to not wear one." And with that, Daisy looked at him with a newfound liking towards him. He was kind, and he cared genuinely about her stories.</p><p>The blonde man looked at her, a new sparkle in his eyes. She didn't immediately interrupt him when he was talking about his life and fill it in for him. She cared about his stories, and he wanted to know more about her.</p><p>"Oh no! I have to get back to my apartment, my landlord is going to kill me if I don't get the rent in by tomorrow." Daisy panicked, kneeling on her legs and shoving everything back into her backpack. She glanced at Steve, remembering his no gas situation. "Do you want a drive back to wherever you came from or where you were going? I promise I don't have <em>that </em>bad of a music taste."</p><p>Steve chuckled, grasping the girl's hand and helping her up before grabbing his own bag of stuff. "Do you have somewhere I can mount my bike?" Daisy nodded and led him to her vehicle, strapping the motorbike into the back storage part of her truck.</p><p>"Thanks." He spoke once he sat in the front passenger seat of the car, looking over beside him to watch as Daisy pulled the car out of the rocky driveway.</p><p>"Anytime." She answered, winking at Steve as she turned on her CD player in the truck, immediately whipping her hair against the steering wheel as it started.</p><p>
  <em>'Once I had love and it was a gas. Soon it turned out, I had a heart of glass.'</em>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>DO YOU REMEMBER ALL THE CITY LIGHTS ON THE WATER?<br/>YOU SAW ME START TO BELIEVE FOR THE FIRST TIME.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚</h2></a>
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  <b>HE SAYS; 'BABY IS SOMETHING WRONG?'<br/>
I SAY 'NOTHING, I WAS JUST THINKING'<br/>
'HOW WE DON'T HAVE A SONG...'</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/>
<b>CHAPTER SEVEN<br/>
THE SONG<br/>
</b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>After Daisy and Steve's beach encounter, they hadn't seen much of each other. Numbers had been exchanged, but there were no real planned hangouts, most were just coincidences.</p><p>Well, that changed.</p><p>Daisy stood in the doorframe of her bedroom, looking at her outfit through her full body-length mirror. It was her first actual hang out with Steve, so she didn't want to look <em>too </em>dressed up. She wore a nice yellow shirt and jeans, and since it was still February, she decided to put a nice cardigan on top, since it was cold.</p><p>They had plans to go out for a walk around New York, but Daisy grimaced as she looked at the abysmal weather outside. It was bucketing rain, and she realized the two probably wouldn't be able to take a nice walk in the brisk wind.</p><p>Her thoughts were interrupted by three knocks at the door, something Steve had mentioned he used to do in the forties' as an inside joke, so Daisy knew it was him.</p><p>She walked over to the front door of her apartment and opened the door, seeing a drenched Steve Rogers with a broken umbrella and a sheepish look plastered on his face.</p><p>"Sorry I'm late... It started pouring when I left my apartment and I didn't realize my umbrella was totally cinched." Daisy nodded, accepting the poor man's apology and letting him in.</p><p>"Don't worry about it." The woman replied, hanging his wet coat up on one of her hangers. "Although, I don't think we'll be able to go out and walk around the city. You might just have to stay here."</p><p>Steve nodded, putting his umbrella in the rack and standing awkwardly. "That's fine, as long as I don't have to get drenched again. A friend bought this shirt for me." Daisy motioned towards her couch, letting Steve sit down as she tracked to her kitchen.</p><p>"Would you like anything to drink? I've got tea, water, hot chocolate, really anything."</p><p>"Could I have a hot chocolate? I haven't actually had one since I was in the ice, actually." Daisy smiled and placed her full kettle onto her stove, flicking the heat on and waiting for it to boil.</p><p>"Do you want anything like marshmallows? I have whipped cream, cinnamon, cherries, sprinkles, anything your heart desires." Daisy asked, putting the hot chocolate mix into the bottom of two of her mugs.</p><p>"I'll just have some marshmallows and whipped cream, thanks." Steve responded, watching as she nodded in response and grabbed out a few toppings from her fridge and cupboard.</p><p>Soon enough, after a while of awkward silences, the kettle started whistling. Daisy took it off the heat and poured it into the two mugs, putting some whipped cream and marshmallows on top of one, and cinnamon with whipped cream on the other.</p><p>She sat down next to Steve and handed him his drink, taking the silence-filled time to sip on her own drink.</p><p>On the other hand, Steve took the time to admire Daisy's apartment. It was littered with tons of plants, fake and real, and to top it all off, bundles of fake candles were bunched together in groups everywhere.</p><p>Daisy, tired of the silence, decided to speak up first. "So how has your day been? I mean- other than having to walk all the way here in the rain."</p><p>"It's been okay." Steve responded, laughing a bit at her disclaimer. "Oh! Here!" He took out something from his jean pocket. It was a gorgeous sapphire necklace. "I saw it in the window and I thought of you."</p><p>Daisy's ears glowed red, shining against the natural light pouring through the windows. "Thank you so much! It's beautiful." She clipped it behind her neck, watching as it shimmered to a light purple then back to a dark blue. The formal necklace Steve had gotten her didn't match her casual outfit at all, but she still wanted to wear it.</p><p>"Do you play music?" Steve asked, looking towards the piano in the corner of her living room.</p><p>He watched as Daisy's shy face turned into a beam, it felt like light was just falling off of her cheeks. "Yes, actually! I'm working on my first few songs, actually!"</p><p>"That's really amazing." Steve exclaimed. "Can you play one for me?"</p><p>Daisy grinned, and Steve swore it was the best thing he had ever seen. They both walked up to the piano and Daisy sat down, letting Steve stand on the side of the keyboard and lean over it.</p><p>"Bare with me, I only have a verse and half of the chorus so far. This is my dream track three for if I ever make an album." Steve nodded, a goofy lop-sided grin on his face. If any of his friends in that moment saw him, they'd know that he was in love. <em>"I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover..."</em></p><p>It was a love song. Daisy wrote it about who she hoped her soulmate would be. She only wondered if she had met them already, and wondered that if she hadn't, would she know when she met them? Daisy would have to know if they knew who she was, but maybe she didn't know them. Maybe they were a mutual of Gray, or Jo.</p><p>On that topic, as she sang the parts of the song that she had written down, she also thought about what gender her soulmate may be. It didn't truly matter to her, but she had suspected it was a male since the only female friend she had was Gray. She couldn't make assumptions, though.</p><p>"Wait!" Daisy exclaimed, shocking Steve a bit. He watched as she scrambled to find her pen and write something down. He peered at his pinkie, the golden soulmate string glowing brightly.</p><p>For some reason, in that moment, whilst he stood in Daisy's apartment, watching her eagerly write down lyrics and notes, he didn't really care.</p><p>Many people never found their soulmates yet fell in love, and most of those people ended up together in the end.</p><p>So right then, as he realized that he wanted to take Daisy out on a proper romantic date, he knew that even if, in the slightest chance, that she <em>was </em>his soulmate, he wanted to be with her.</p><p>"Okay, so here's a new lyric, and I need your opinion on it." Daisy demanded, cracking her knuckles.</p><p>Steve looked at her with a slightly tilted head. "Why me?"</p><p>"Because I trust you to be brutally honest with me if need be." She cleared her throat and coughed before gulping down her nervousness. <em>"Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close?" </em>Steve didn't know that that line was about him in that moment, but it was still mesmerizingly beautiful.</p><p>"That fits really well." He exclaimed, leaning against the off-white wall.</p><p>"Thanks!" Daisy replied, a big smile plastered across her face. She scanned the room for a moment, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.</p><p>"What're you-?"</p><p>"Shh!" She yelled, Steve immediately snapping his mouth shut. A few moments of silence passed, it was comfortable, but he really didn't know what Daisy was doing.</p><p>"Holy shit..." Daisy breathed, holding her pen tightly until her knuckles turned white. "I just wrote a song!"</p><p>She quickly scribbled down the rest of the lyrics and notes, Steve watching as her face contorted from confusion to excitement in a matter of seconds.</p><p>"Wow, how long have you been working on that song?" He asked, rubbing his hands against his jeans to try and warm them up. He couldn't lie, it was quite cold.</p><p>"I've had the tune in my head for a while, but I just started putting words and actual notes into it a few days ago." Steve nodded, not understanding how someone could write a whole song that fast. "Okay, here's the whole thing- <em>We could leave the Christmas lights up until January..."</em></p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>I GRABBED A PEN,<br/>
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  <b>AND AN OLD NAPKIN,<br/>
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  <b>AND I WROTE DOWN OUR SONG.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/>
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  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡</h2></a>
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    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
  <b>
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  <b>MAYBE I DON'T QUITE KNOW WHAT TO SAY,<br/></b>
  <b>BUT I'M HERE IN YOUR DOORWAY.<br/></b>
  <b>I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW,<br/></b>
  <b>THAT THIS IS ME TRYING.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER EIGHT<br/>THE BIG QUESTION<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>The two hung out more often after that, and after a few weeks, they were inseparable. Even Gray, Daisy's best friend, knew that they were truly meant for each other, but she kept that to herself.</p><p>So, as the last of the new year's snow fell down on the ground lightly, Daisy entered her apartment, brushing off the light dusting of slush off of her jacket as she hung it up on her coat stand.</p><p>As she placed the kettle on her stove and cranked up the heat, a familiar knock at the door arose her from a daydream. <em>Three knocks in a row, it was Steve. </em>Daisy remembered their signature knock and walked</p><p>"Hey Steve!" Daisy said excitedly, only noticing the big bouquet of scarlet roses in his hands moments after she greeted him.</p><p>"Hey." He greeted awkwardly, shuffling his feet a bit. The urge to rub the back of his neck grew every moment, but he ignored it, not wanting to let go of the roses. "Um- I have a question for you."</p><p>Daisy still stood in her door frame, smiling at the man in front of her. "Go ahead!" She beamed, pushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ears.</p><p>"Would you go on a date with me?"</p><p>As Steve asked the question, Daisy stood there, shellshocked. "I can't- Steve, I won't lie, I <em>really </em>like you, but I know I have my soulmate out there somewhere, and I don't think dating someone else is the right choice."</p><p>"Please- All I ask from you is one date. <em>One. </em>If after that all you want to be is friends, or never see me again, that's fine." Steve took a deep breath in. "But I don't wanna live my life not knowing what would happen if I never went on a date with <em>the </em>Daisy Stone."</p><p>Daisy thought for a moment, a frown encompassing her face. In reality, she was ecstatic, and for the first time in her life, she wished she didn't have a soulmate.</p><p>"I don't-"</p><p>"One date." Steve pleaded. "That's all I ask."</p><p>The woman sighed, smiling a bit as she looked at him in the eyes. "One date."</p><p>Steve beamed with happiness, holding the roses out towards Daisy. "Here, these are for you." He smiled, letting her take the flowers in her arms.</p><p>Daisy smelled them deeply, gleaming back at Steve. "Would you like to come in? I need to put these in a vase anyway." Steve nodded as an answer, walking in through the door as Daisy shut it behind him, grabbing out a large vase from her cupboard and filling it up with water.</p><p>Her apartment always gave Steve a sense of home, in some ways, it reminded him of his childhood home. Always stocked with food, candles lit around the rooms (they were fake, of course), plants littered among many books, and a constant smell of fresh baked brownies that lingered even when nothing was in the oven.</p><p>Daisy brushed the excess water off of her hands onto her overalls, and in that moment, Steve took her outfit in. She wore jean overalls with a dark navy sweatshirt underneath, and though it was simple, he still thought of her as the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.</p><p>"Hey? Earth to Steve?" Daisy tilted her head, waving her hand in front of the man's face. He shook his head, lopsidedly grinning. "What were you thinking about, shield man?"</p><p>"Just how lucky I am to have a date with the most amazing woman on the face of the Earth." Daisy blushed a deep shade of scarlet red, almost matching the roses.</p><p>Steve smiled and took her hands. "What would you like to do?"</p><p>"Well you asked me on this date, Mr. Rogers." Daisy smirked. "I think it's only fair that you have a plan on where we're going to go."</p><p>The man pondered for a moment, letting go of Daisy's hand and rubbing his own. "Maybe a nice dinner?" He suggested, struggling with the concept of a modern-day date.</p><p>"That sounds lovely." Daisy replied, smiling softly. "What level of fanciness are we going for?"</p><p>"What do you mean?" Steve asked, making Daisy laugh a bit.</p><p>"Well, I need to know how fancy I should dress." She answered. "On a scale of one to ten, one being sweatpants and a tee shirt and ten being a ball gown, how fancy will this date be?"</p><p>Steve thought for a second, remembering the fancy restaurant he always looked at when he walked to Daisy's apartment. "Maybe a seven."</p><p>Daisy smiled and nodded, rubbing her fingers and trying to get rid of the stinging from the rose thorns.</p><p>"Well then. It's a date."</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>THEY TOLD ME ALL OF MY CAGES WERE MENTAL,<br/>SO I GOT WASTED LIKE ALL MY POTENTIAL.<br/>AND MY WORDS SHOOT TO KILL WHEN I'M MAD.<br/>I HAVE A LOT OF REGRETS ABOUT THAT.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. 𝗔 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>WALKED IN EXPECTING YOU'D BE LATE,<br/>BUT YOU GOT HERE EARLY AND YOU STAND AND WAVE.<br/>I WALKED TO YOU.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER NINE<br/>A DATE<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy brushed the small hairs that had accumulated on her dress, hands shaking as she did so. It was the night of her first date with Steve, and to say that she wasn't nervous would be a lie.</p><p>Honestly, she felt like her outfit was really nice. It was a simple lavender maxi dress, which meant it had a lot of room to move around. Daisy almost always chose comfort over fashion, and it showed with her naturally wavy hair and little to no makeup she wore that night.</p><p>On the other side of Brooklyn, Steve took in a shaky breath, driving through late Friday night traffic. The fact that he was even going on a date was strange for him, and the sweat on his palms showed it.</p><p>Knowing that he had booked a reservation for quite a fancy restaurant, Steve wore a black blazer and a white button up. It was very simple, but it did the job.</p><p>After a few more minutes of driving, Steve found himself at the door of Daisy's apartment, his knuckle rapping on the door in their special door knock combination.</p><p>With one last big breath in, Daisy opened the door, beaming at Steve.</p><p>"Hi."</p><p>"Hey." Steve grinned, looking at the absolute gorgeous woman standing in front of him. He thought she looked breathtaking in that moment. "Are you ready to go?"</p><p>Daisy nodded. "Yup!" They walked down the winding halls of the apartment building, both breathing in the fresh and crisp air of Brooklyn.</p><p>The two drove off in the car, listening to a soft acoustic radio as many blocks of buildings passed them at a light speed.</p><p>"So what do you do? Y'know, other than being a superhero." Daisy asked, folding her legs and turning her head to face the side of Steve's.</p><p>He thought for a moment, keeping his eyes on the road as he answered. "I enjoy going to museums for obvious reasons, but I also like to just take walks. It's nice to see how much has changed in the last seventy years." Daisy nodded in response, playing with her clutch purse. "What about you?"</p><p>"Well-" She thought for a second. "I love to read, I think that's obvious by the fact that I own a library, though." Steve and Daisy both laughed, the latter admiring Steve's smile from afar. "But I do like to go on adventures. You were deployed in England, right?"</p><p>Steve nodded. "I was deployed with the 107th."</p><p>"Well maybe sometime you'd like to visit England. See how much it's changed from the warzone it used to be." Daisy offered. "It doesn't matter if you go with me or not, but just know, I'm always open to travel and adventure."</p><p>"I'll keep that in mind." Steve smiled, putting the car into the park gear and exiting it. Before Daisy could get out and follow him, Steve opened the door for her, helping her out of the small car.</p><p>"Why, thank you, good sir." She faked a posh accent, bowing a bit.</p><p>Steve laughed. "You are very welcome, my fair maiden." He responded, playing along with the bit.</p><p>After a few more jokes were shared, the two walked into the restaurant, approaching the hostess, who was frankly a bit shocked that <em>the </em>Captain America was in front of her.</p><p>"Hi-um-do you have a reservation?" She asked, grabbing two menus out from the stand.</p><p>Steve nodded. "Yes, under Rogers."</p><p>The hostess smiled in response and walked over through the mess of tables, letting Daisy follow her and Steve trail behind the two women shortly.</p><p>They approached a table near the back with a candle and a rose in the center, and before Daisy knew it, the hostess had disappeared, leaving only the two menus on the table.</p><p>"Here." Steve said, pulling out Daisy's chair for her.</p><p>"Thank you." She genuinely spoke, sitting down and brushing out her dress. She placed her clutch purse down behind her back and opened up the menu that sat in front of her.</p><p>At the same time, Steve scanned the drink menu, brushing his forearms against the white satin tablecloth.</p><p>"What are you going to get for a drink?" He asked, locking his own blue eyes with Daisy's.</p><p>She scanned the menu for a split second before looking back up at Steve. "Probably just a glass of white wine. Believe it or not, I don't really wanna get blackout drunk on a first date."</p><p>Steve nodded as one of the waitresses walked over, folding her hands at her stomach whilst holding a notepad and pen. "Hi, I'm Amy and I'll be your server for the night. Can I get you started with some drinks?"</p><p>"Yes, please." Steve answered, looking at Daisy politely and waiting for her to order.</p><p>"Oh- yes, I'll take a glass of your white wine please." The waitress nodded and wrote it down, facing Steve for his order.</p><p>"I'll have the same, thanks." She nodded and swiftly walked away, taking other tables' orders before walking back into the kitchen.</p><p>The two sat in a comfortable silence for a bit. Usually their conversations were light and airy, full of depth, but they both really didn't know how to start a date.</p><p>They stayed in silence until Steve spoke up. "Why don't we get the awkward stuff out of the way? So there's nothing to unravel later on." Daisy nodded, content with that idea. "Okay, um- past relationships?"</p><p>Daisy groaned, putting her hands in her face, making little pockets between her fingers for her eyes to pop out. "I really haven't been in any real relationships, but I did have a brief month or so of time when I dated this girl named Elizabeth, but it really wasn't that serious. I had just come out as bisexual, so I guess I was just experimenting a bit with it."</p><p>Steve nodded. He already knew about Daisy's sexuality, but it really didn't matter that much to him. She liked women and men, and he really didn't get how that was so wrong.</p><p>"Okay, your turn."</p><p>He cleared his throat. "Back in the military, I had a thing with one of the girls there."</p><p>"Ooh. Was it a scandal?" Daisy sarcastically asked, making Steve laugh a bit.</p><p>"No, we never really dated, either." Before they could go in depth about any other past relationship embarrassments, the waitress placed their drinks on the table.</p><p>"Here are the meal menus. I'll come to take your order in a few minutes." Steve and Daisy thanked her and she left.</p><p>Daisy opened her menu and looked over at the mouth-watering descriptions on the paper. They were a bit too expensive, though, so she went with a salad and chicken.</p><p>Steve chose out a small-sized steak and a side of coconut shrimp, not as worried about the pricing as Daisy was.</p><p>"So, how about we make a challenge to hit all of the most awkward topics before the waitress comes back?" Daisy smirked, making Steve laugh a bit.</p><p>"Okay. I'll start." Steve cleared his throat. "How much money do you make?"</p><p>"Barely enough to pay rent. What about you?"</p><p>"Everything I need is covered by S.H.I.E.L.D." He answered.</p><p>Daisy scoffed. "Lucky." She smiled. "What are your thoughts on milestones in the relationship and when they should happen?"</p><p>Steve thought for a second. "First kiss, maybe first or second date. Making it official, maybe the fourth or fifth date. I don't really think about the rest. Haven't really gotten that far, believe it or not." He smiled, taking a sip of wine. "Your turn."</p><p>"First date, first kiss. Fifth or sixth date, make it official. Three or four months into the official relationship, maybe tell them you love them. Maybe a year into officially dating, move in together. I haven't made it that far, either."</p><p>Before they could touch on second dates, the waitress walked back over, smiling at them. "Are you two ready to order dinner?"</p><p>They both nodded. Once again, Steve waited politely for Daisy to order, not wanting to step on her and order for her. "Can I get the roasted chicken and the side salad but with no grape halves? I'm allergic."</p><p>The waitress smiled and nodded, writing down Daisy's order before turning to Steve. "And for you?"</p><p>"Can I have the small-sized steak with a side of coconut shrimp please?" She nodded and took the two menus, leaving Steve and Daisy to their own company once again.</p><p>"Okay, no more awkward questions now that we have those out of the way." Daisy chuckled. "What do you consider your talents? I know, it's a basic bitch question, but I want to hear your opinion on yourself!"</p><p>Steve smiled, not really minding the fact that Daisy swore. "I like to draw I guess. I went to art school before I was drafted into the army."</p><p>"That's really cool!" Daisy exclaimed, taking a sip of wine.</p><p>"What about you? Any very cool talents that you have?"</p><p>Daisy cleared her throat. "Well, you know I sing and play the piano, but I also play the guitar, and I really hope I can get somewhere with music someday."</p><p>"Now <em>that </em>is quite the talent." Steve beamed. "Do you play acoustic guitar or electric?"</p><p>"Both, actually!" Daisy answered, smiling back at him.</p><p>After a while of even more pleasant conversations, the waitress came back over and handed them their meals, smiling sweetly at the two.</p><p>"Do you both need anything else?"</p><p>Daisy and Steve shook their heads, grabbing their utensils. The waitress nodded and left, leaving the two to place their napkins on their laps.</p><p>After the two finished their meals in a blissful silence, the waitress walked over with the bill, taking the empty plates and leaving Steve and Daisy alone once again.</p><p>Daisy dug into her clutch purse and found her wallet, but before she could put her credit card down, Steve had already placed some cash that would pay for the whole thing, including tips.</p><p>"Hey! You gotta let me at least split the bill!" Daisy exclaimed, waving her credit card in Steve's face.</p><p>Steve simply smiled. "No way. It'd be rude to make you pay on the first date." He said, standing up and shrugging his blazer back on. "Let's get you back home before it gets too cold."</p><p>Daisy nodded, taking Steve's hand in her own as they walked out of the restaurant. They entered his car and drove in a peaceful silence down the roads of Brooklyn.</p><p>As they approached Daisy's apartment building, Steve pulled into a public parking garage a few blocks away from her apartment, just as it began to rain, as well.</p><p>They exited the car and stepped foot on the rainy sidewalk, Steve placing his blazer on Daisy's shoulders to provide a bit of warmth.</p><p>"Why not take this chance to walk in the rain?" Daisy beamed. She couldn't believe he remembered the time she told him her dream was to walk in the rain with someone.</p><p>"Here." Steve smiled, taking Daisy's hands in his own. They danced on the sidewalk the rest of the night, and even though their feet were sore, they stayed in each other's arms.</p><p>Let's just say, they had an amazing night.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>YOU PULL MY CHAIR OUT AND HELP ME IN,<br/>AND YOU DON'T KNOW HOW NICE THAT IS.<br/>BUT I DO.<br/>I DO.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p><b>YOU CAN FIND ME IN THE PUB</b> <br/><b>WE ARE WATCHING RUGBY,</b><br/><b>WITH HIS SCHOOL FRIENDS.</b></p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TEN<br/>HIS FRIENDS<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>To say that Daisy was nervous would be an understatement.</p><p>Ever since she had started officially dating Steve, she had begged him to let her meet his friends. It wasn't a 'let me meet the Avengers' thing, it was more of a 'I really want to know your friends'.</p><p>So, as the two walked down the street hand-in-hand, Steve decided to make a pit stop and turn towards the Avengers tower.</p><p>Daisy looked at him with a confused gaze, but he simply smiled. "I think it's about time that you met my friends." The woman beamed at Steve's statement, unlocking her hands with his to pump her fists in victory.</p><p>"Yes! Finally!" She yelled, dancing a bit.</p><p>After a bit more chatting, Daisy began to become even more excited to meet Steve's friends. They finally arrived at the Avengers tower.</p><p>It was astonishing to Daisy that Steve didn't have to even talk to the lady at the front desk, he just walked right into the elevator with her trailing slightly behind him.</p><p>Daisy truly didn't feel like she belonged in the million dollar tower, but Steve gave her a warming smile, almost as if he knew how she felt.</p><p>"They're gonna love you, I promise." Steve spoke reassuringly. His voice brought calmness to the nervous girl, and she was thankful for his company at that moment.</p><p>Daisy took in a shaky breath as the elevator stopped and made a quick chime, opening to reveal blasting music and a living room of some sorts.</p><p>It was nothing like Daisy had seen before. Crystal clear glass viewing the entire city, a huge television with a complete surround sound, pearly white and gray furniture in perfect order, it was definitely a rich man's living room, that was for sure.</p><p>Steve grunted at the loud music playing. The AC/DC blasting wasn't that annoying to Daisy, but to everyone else in the room, it was quite the distraction.</p><p>"Tony! Turn your music down, we wanna listen to our own shit!" A man yelled. Daisy had no clue who any of the people sitting in the living room were, and before she could make a quick escape to the bathroom, Steve had loudly cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone.</p><p>"I have someone I'd like you to meet." Sheepishly, Daisy stepped out and waved, gaining happy smiles and a few waves back from everyone else.</p><p>In that moment, it hit her that these were the Avengers. "Um- hi! I'm Daisy."</p><p>The red-headed lady was the one to speak first, Daisy recognized her as Black Widow. "I'm Natasha. It's nice to finally meet you."</p><p>"Finally?"</p><p>"Are you kidding?" She asked in disbelief, crossing her arms as she leant back against the wall. "He never shuts up about you."</p><p>One of the men, who wore a blazer and a graphic tee shirt, scoffed and approached Steve and Daisy. He gazed at the two for a moment, almost silently judging them. "She's not wrong. All he does is blabber on and on about you."</p><p>The man smiled. "Tony Stark. Billionaire, among other things."</p><p>Daisy held out her hand and Tony shook it.</p><p>"It's nice to meet you." She said gratefully in reply, beaming at the man.</p><p>The next to pop out was another older-looking man. He had curly hair and a tanner complexion, but he looked quite soft, donning a button-up shirt with a gray madras-patterned blazer.</p><p>"Hello. I'm Doctor Bruce Banner." He introduced, shaking Daisy's hand kindly.</p><p>"It's nice to meet you, doctor."</p><p>Bruce was quick to interject. "Please, you can just call me Bruce. If you're dating Steve, we're probably going to see a lot more of you."</p><p>Daisy smiled softly at the man, watching as he took his place next to Natasha and Tony, which was almost beside the couple.</p><p>"It's a pleasure to meet you all!" She exclaimed, being able to talk a bit quieter as the music was turned down.</p><p>"Well, come sit down. I'll have J.A.R.V.I.S. make some coffee." Tony said. Daisy nodded and stayed beside Steve as everyone sat down on the couch.</p><p>"So what do you do for a living?" Natasha asked, sitting on the couch across from the couple.</p><p>Daisy thought for a moment more, not really knowing how to explain her job to The Avengers, of all people. "I own a library in Brooklyn, but I'm also hopping between jobs."</p><p>They all nodded, thanking Tony as he brought over cups of coffee to each of them. Daisy took one gratefully, trying to push herself further into Steve's side without being too obvious about it. "How did you two meet?" Someone from the kitchen asked. He had a black buzzcut, and was grabbing milk from the fridge. "Wait- you're the girl from the wedding!"</p><p>Daisy looked at the man with a confused look on her face as he sat down. "Which wedding?"</p><p>"The one that took place shortly after New Years. I can't remember the bride and groom's name which makes me sound like an awful person, but I swear; I really don't know these people." He explained.</p><p>It finally clicked in Daisy's mind. "Oh, that wedding! Yes, I was the solo band and maid of honor at my best friend's wedding." She smiled. "You were there?" She asked politely.</p><p>"Yeah!" He exclaimed, clearing his throat moments after. "I'm Sam Wilson. You're Daisy Stone, right?"</p><p>The woman nodded. "Yup! It's nice to meet you!" They shook hands momentarily as he sipped on some of the coffee that Tony had made.</p><p>"So, I guess you can consider yourself an honorary member of The Avengers." Tony stated, pouring himself more coffee into his mug.</p><p>"Wait, what?!" Daisy exclaimed, her torso leaping forward. Steve placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner, helping her relax back into the back of the couch and the side of his shoulder.</p><p>"It's only fair. I mean- Pepper does count as an honorary member of The Avengers, so technically, you should as well." Tony explained, sipping innocently on his coffee, as if he just hadn't offered an everyday woman a place as an Avenger.</p><p>Steve looked at Daisy, smiling comfortingly at her, as if saying 'you don't need to agree if you don't want to', but there was really no terms or agreements to it, so she really saw no downside to it.</p><p>"Then consider me an honorary member of the Avengers." She beamed.</p><p>"So, do you have any questions for us?" Natasha asked, smirking lightly.</p><p>Daisy thought for a moment, thinking of the perfect first question to ask. "What's the most embarrassing thing that Steve has done?"</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>TOOK ME BACK TO HIGHGATE,<br/>MET ALL OF HIS BEST MATES<br/>SO I GUESS ALL THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE.</b>
</p><p><b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b> <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b></p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>I TALK SHIT WITH MY FRIENDS,</b>
  <br/>
  <b>IT'S LIKE I'M WASTING YOUR HONOUR.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER ELEVEN<br/>HER FRIENDS<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>"So, spill the tea on your new juicy relationship, Daisy!" Gray engrossed, resting her chin in the palms of her two hands.</p><p>Daisy laughed. "There is nothing <em>to </em>spill!"</p><p>Jo, Daisy, and Gray were all at Daisy's library, drinking coffee and catching up with each other. They really hadn't hung out since the wedding, it was all calling and texting.</p><p>"I beg to differ." Jo scoffed, leaning back on the couch and wrapping his arm around his wife.</p><p>"Okay, okay, fine..." Daisy gave in, chuckling a bit as Gray leaped out from Jo's arm and leant across the table, an intrigued look upon her face. "The newest thing-"</p><p>"NO!" Gray exclaimed. "You're giving me a full summary of what has happened so far. I need to be caught up on my best friend's love life!"</p><p>Daisy laughed again and sighed. "Long story short, we kept coincidentally meeting, he took me on a date, he helped me write one of my new songs, and I met his friends."</p><p>Gray deadpanned. "Wait- you mean you met The Avengers?!"</p><p>Jo's eyes widened. He was a content creator on many different platforms, and he had constantly heard about The Avengers from his fans. Hell- he even played a game based on them for one of his videos!</p><p>"Yeah." Daisy admitted sheepishly. "They're actually really nice people."</p><p>Gray's mouth flew open in shock, and she fell back onto the couch, holding her hands over her eyes. Jo smiled softly at her and rubbed her back in comfort, masking his own shock and excitement.</p><p>"You two are sickeningly sweet." Daisy remarked, gulping down the rest of her mug of coffee. "Do you guys need a refill?"</p><p>"Ooh, yes please!" Gray exclaimed, handing her best friend her empty mug. Jo did the same.</p><p>Daisy walked into the kitchen and pressed some coffee beans into her coffee maker, placing a kettle on the stove so it could boil the water at the same time.</p><p>Even though Daisy worked independently and technically owned her own business, she was in her work clothes. It was just a simple white long-sleeved shirt with a pastel skirt that ended near her shins, but it was still classed as a work outfit to her.</p><p>The coffee was going to take a few more minutes, so Daisy sat down on her counter and opened up one of her cookbooks.</p><p>Meanwhile, Steve stepped into the library, immediately smiling in the warm and cozy atmosphere. He had missed coming for tea every so often, but he mostly just missed seeing Daisy.</p><p>On the other side of the room, Gray was the first to see Steve walk into the large building. "Jo!" She whisper-yelled, tapping violently on her husband's shoulder. "Is that Steve?"</p><p>"I think it is..." Jo trailed off, recognizing the superhero from their wedding and also the numerous news stories that had accumulated about Captain America.</p><p>Gray waved at Steve frantically, trying to get his attention. Of course, he ended up seeing her. He wasn't worried about her being a crazy fangirl, as he remembered the happy couple from the wedding he had seen Daisy at.</p><p>"Hi." Steve spoke awkwardly.</p><p>Gray rolled her eyes and shoved him down into the seat next to the one Daisy sat in. "Okay look blonde boy, we want to know your intentions with Ms. Stone."</p><p>Steve had horror plastered on his face. To be fair- Gray did have a pretty mean glare.</p><p>"She's kidding, she's kidding." Jo explained, trying to calm the superhero across from him down. </p><p>Almost right on queue, Daisy emerged from the kitchen, balancing three mugs of coffee on her two forearms. As soon as Steve had sight of her, he stood up and took two out of her hands, placing them down on the table.</p><p>"Thank you- Wait, Steve?" Daisy exclaimed, not noticing who had been so kind to help her until she had placed down the last cup.</p><p>"We were kind enough to invite him to the table." Gray winked.</p><p>As Steve sat down, Daisy put her hand against her neck and made a slicing motion, glaring at her best friend without her boyfriend noticing.</p><p>Gray put her two hands up in mock surrender as the four immersed themselves in a conversation.</p><p>"Steve, this is Gray and Jo, my best friends. Gray and Jo, this is Steve, my boyfriend."</p><p>They all quickly shook hands and Daisy continued introducing them. "Jo is a content creator online and Gray is actually a musical theatre actor!"</p><p>"That's really amazing!" Steve replied, placing his hands in his lap awkwardly. To be honest, he was quite nervous and felt like he was intruding, and Daisy noticed.</p><p>Daisy placed her hand on top of Steve's under the table, smiling softly at him as the conversation drowned out.</p><p>He really appreciated the little things that Daisy did. She would smile and show affection whenever she knew he felt anxious or down.</p><p>And even though he really enjoyed her company and liked her, a part of Steve still nagged at the fact that he had a soulmate out there somewhere. He had been seeing his string a lot more lately, and it was worrying him that he hadn't found the one.</p><p>Steve put those thoughts aside and smiled graciously as Daisy handed him her coffee, mug still full of the caffeinated drink.</p><p>The group of four continued chatting until around four in the afternoon.</p><p>"Okay, we should get going." Jo explained, shrugging on his coat and smiling at the two sitting across from him.</p><p>"Wait!" Gray exclaimed. "I need to talk to Daisy about something in private really quickly."</p><p>Daisy nodded and hugged Jo before he stepped outside. Gray pulled on her best friend's arm and dragged her into the kitchen.</p><p>"I'm freaking out a bit." Gray admitted, the softness in her eyes replaced with panic.</p><p>"What's wrong?" Daisy asked, rubbing her friend's arms in comfort.</p><p>Gray grabbed something out of her bag, shoving it into Daisy's hands. It was a pregnancy test. A positive one, to be exact.</p><p>"Oh my god- this is amazing!" Daisy yelled, embracing her best friend in a hug. "Have you told Jo yet?"</p><p>Gray shook her head in response.</p><p>"Well, you should! He's going to be so happy." She exclaimed, handing back the pregnancy test to Gray.</p><p>Only then did Daisy realize the relatively baggy shirt Gray had on. Although that was her style normally, it was odd for her not to be wearing a flannel over a t-shirt.</p><p>"I really need to go, Jo's going to get suspicious." Gray smiled, hugging Daisy one last time before leaving the kitchen.</p><p>Daisy approached Steve back at the table, glancing at the clock one more time and shrugging her own cardigan on. <em>4:21</em></p><p>"Hey Steve, what do you think of getting take out and staying at my apartment for a bit?"</p><p>Steve nodded, smiling at Daisy as he got up and followed her out of the library. They walked the sketchy streets down to her apartment building, but thankfully it was still a bit light out, meaning they didn't have to rely on the flickering street lamps and their phone flashlights to navigate around.</p><p>The couple finally arrived at Daisy's apartment and let themselves in.</p><p>"I'm just going to go order the food on the phone really quickly, hopefully they do delivery." Steve nodded as his girlfriend disappeared into what he assumed was her room to order some food. They had already discussed what they were going to order on the walk to her apartment.</p><p>Steve took the time to look around the apartment, basking in the glow of the fake fireplace and fake candles. Every corner was filled up by some form of plant, and everytime he walked into Daisy's apartment, it felt like home.</p><p>"The food's on the way." Daisy said, emerging out of her room with a few boxes in her arms. "I grabbed a few board games to play if you're up for it!"</p><p>"That sounds fun!" Steve responded, sitting down on the couch and watching as Daisy placed down a few games like Monopoly, UNO, and Scrabble down onto her coffee table.</p><p>"Would you like some wine or something?" She asked, making her way over to her kitchen and grabbing a bottle of wine out of one of the green cabinets.</p><p>"That'd be great, thank you." Steve replied.</p><p>Daisy grabbed out two glasses and poured some of the drink into each, placing them down on the coffee table in front of Steve just as the buzzer was called to her apartment room.</p><p>She quickly left the apartment and ran downstairs, paying the man with Steve and hers dinner before leaving back upstairs.</p><p>Steve smiled at Daisy thankfully as she opened up all the food boxes on the coffee table.</p><p>"So, let's dig in!"</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>ALL THESE PEOPLE THINK LOVE'S FOR SHOW,<br/>BUT I WOULD DIE FOR YOU IN SECRET.<br/>THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS,<br/>BUT YOU GOT A FRIEND IN ME.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗚𝗜𝗚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What the hell?” Daisy groaned, being awoken from her peaceful slumber by her blaring phone. “My god, some people can’t grasp the concept of time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though she was annoyed, Daisy answered the phone and shoved it against her ear, battling with her horrible bed-head whilst the phone connected to the other line.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello. Is this Daisy Stone?” A man asked from the other side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes… who’s this?” She asked, skepticism lacing her tone. If someone was calling at six in the morning, it had to be some form of serial killer, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My name is George Davidson, I’m a friend of Jo’s from university.” He explained, letting Daisy know that he was not, in fact, a serial killer. : My apologies for calling so early in the morning but I </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>need a favour.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay, big red flag. Daisy never met this man before, and he’s asking for a favour?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George cleared his throat. “I own a small venue for live music in Times Square. I accidentally double-booked one of our performers and I needed a last-minute entry. I was at Gray and Jo’s wedding, coincidentally, and your musicianal skills were amazing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, so you’re asking me?” Daisy asked, immediately shooting up in her bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man laughed a bit at her obvious excitement, although he didn’t hide his chuckling well enough from the phone speaker, as Daisy went red from embarrassment. “Yeah. The performance is tomorrow night, and if you’re free, we need you for rehearsals by ten today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d be honoured!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds good. I’ll message you the location and we’ll get you all settled in.” George smiled. “Thanks for your help, Daisy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No problem!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The phone clicked and the line went dead. Daisy placed her phone back onto her nightside stand and shot up straight out of her bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’M DOING MY FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE!” She yelled, dancing around as she chose out an outfit for the rehearsal. She didn’t know what she was going to be wearing during the actual performance, so she just picked out a cream coloured sweater and black leggings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was almost April, so it was definitely getting warmer outside. Daisy was </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>thankful that she could start wearing more summery clothes more often.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daisy grabbed up her phone again and dialed Steve’s number, smiling with happiness as she bit into the apple in her fridge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey love!” He greeted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You will not </span>
  <em>
    <span>believe </span>
  </em>
  <span>what just happened!” Daisy exclaimed, dancing around her apartment as she watered all of her plants.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve laughed a bit at his girlfriend’s excitement. “What just happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay so this guy, he went to Jo and Gray’s wedding and watched me perform, right?” Steve nodded, she couldn’t even see him, yet it felt like they were right next to each other. “This dude calls me like an hour ago, and he owns a venue near Times Square for musical artists, and I’m going to be performing for a bit tomorrow!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, Daisy that’s amazing!” Steve yelled, smiling softly at the little excited squeals coming out from the other end of his phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve’s smile dropped. “What’s the issue?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My car is getting fixed in a shop downtown, and Times Square is almost an hour away from Brooklyn.” Daisy’s voice sunk a bit as she talked, making Steve frown at her dejected tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A lightbulb flickered above his head. “I’ll drive you!” He exclaimed. “I’d love to watch your rehearsal if possible anyway!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steve, you are a lifesaver.”</span>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <span>After a full hour of bad karaoke and deep conversations, Steve and Daisy arrived at the venue. It wasn’t a stadium, but it was big for a first ever performance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good luck Dais’. I’ll be cheering you on!” Steve said, kissing Daisy’s cheek as she left the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll see you there.” She waved and disappeared into the venue, looking around hopelessly for someone to guide her around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were stands of merchandise of other musicians performing before and after her, making Daisy a bit anxious as she spotted the names among them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Daisy Stone?” Someone asked behind her. She turned around to face a young boy, probably an assistant intern. “I’m Thomas, I’m here to show you to your stage area.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds good. Lead the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy led her to one of the many stages. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>huge</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She had lights, confetti, platforms, dancers, and so many instruments at the tip of her fingers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them finally stood on the stage, and Thomas handed Daisy a piece of paper and pen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Write your setlist down here, maximum like- ten songs? You can do covers, originals, whatever you want. Draw what you want the set to look like for each song and what instruments you’ll need and what instruments the band will need.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daisy nodded, trying to comprehend all of the words Thomas was spewing out at a high speed. Before she could even process it, the boy had disappeared, leaving her, the stagehands, and the dancers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, you can do this.” She whispered, sitting down on the stage floor and writing down a few of her songs that she wanted to perform. Only a few of her demos had gone out on Spotify and iTunes, so she could only choose a couple of her own songs- then have to deal with some covers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After around four original songs and four covers were written down and eight sets were drawn on the back of the paper, Daisy placed  it on the piano so she wouldn’t lose it and grabbed one of the guitars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daisy took a deep breath in as the microphone was hooked up, she was ready for sound checking her first ever full acoustic song. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was nervous, of course, but seeing Steve’s excited face in the crowd made it all so much better.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soundcheck? One two three? Is it working?” The stage hands nodded and she began to strum the tune of the song she had written for the man in the crowd.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗚𝗜𝗚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>IF YOU COULD SEE<br/>THAT I'M THE ONE<br/>WHO UNDERSTANDS YOU.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER THIRTEEN<br/>FIRST GIG<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>"Hi everyone!"</p><p>Steve heard the melodious voice of his girlfriend pouring through his ears. Although, it was almost bittersweet, seeing her at her first real concert whereas moments before he was dreaming of his true soulmate.</p><p>It was against his will, truly. He didn't want to think of who his soulmate could be- he wanted to roll with the punches. The exact opposite of what he had been doing ever since he had gotten out of the ice.</p><p>He didn't want to think about it yet. Not until he knew his soulmate couldn't be Daisy.</p><p>So he didn't think about it. Instead, he plastered on a smile and watched as his girlfriend fulfilled her lifelong dreams.</p><p>"You probably don't know me, but that's okay!" She said, her enchanting voice soothing Steve out of his worrying thoughts. "I'm Daisy Stone, and I'm going to perform some songs for you tonight."</p><p>Even though almost nobody knew who she was, the crowd went wild. Steve could see the surprise and delight on Daisy's face, even from a few rows back.</p><p>He could see the silhouettes of Gray and Jo, who had booked front-row tickets ahead of time, and he smiled as they screamed in support of their best friend.</p><p>"I'm going to start with a nice original song, written by me." Daisy smiled, tilting her head a bit. "It's going to be full acoustic on the piano, nothing else, and then we can get into the more fancy stuff!"</p><p>She sat down at the piano and began to play, the melody of her newest written song filling the giant concert room.</p><p>Steve was entranced by her voice, her beauty, and everything about Daisy.</p><p>He noticed how she wore a long, black and gold dress, just like Gray had suggested. The small group of four had been with her backstage moments before the show started, so they were the only people that knew she wore a white two-piece underneath so she could move around the stage.</p><p>"<em>You belong with me!</em>" Daisy finished her first song and stood up, letting the on-stage dancers help reveal her white and silver performance outfit. "I would like to take a moment to thank the people who helped put this together!" The crowd cheered. "I mean, without these people, I wouldn't even be up here!"</p><p>Steve smiled at the woman's wholesomeness, remembering that he loved her for being so kind and open towards even the meanest of people.</p><p>"Anyway... how about a more upbeat song?" The crowd yelled in excitement. It was truly astonishing how excited people would get for someone, even if they had no clue who it was. "Well, I wrote this song yesterday, as I was rehearsing for this, believe it or not!"</p><p>As she kicked off the next song, which was much more upbeat and had a more electronic base to it, Steve rubbed his palms together, trying to make them sweat less.</p><p>He knew he needed to talk to Daisy.</p><p>He also knew that he couldn't do it now.</p><p>Her dreams were coming true right in front of him.</p><p>So he'd wait.</p><p>He'd try to bottle up his guilt of trying to find his soulmate, and he'd smile.</p><p>He was so in love with Daisy it hurt.</p><p>It hurt to see her fall in love with him as much as he had with her, while all he could think about was what could be.</p><p>"So, my time is almost up, sadly." Daisy announced, snapping Steve out of his trance. He must've been off in his thoughts for longer than it seemed. "So this last song is going to be <em>super </em>important!"</p><p>"This one song, it was the last I had written in my little imaginary album, and I wrote it with someone near and dear to my heart." She spoke, her teeth shining as she beamed.</p><p>Daisy grabbed out her guitar and began strumming, her heart pounding in her chest as she locked eyes with Steve, all her nervousness dissipating.</p><p>She saw something glimmer in his eyes, maybe it was just the flashing lights behind her, but it felt like something Daisy had seen before, in many people.</p><p>The sweat from performing was still dripping down her forehead as she finished her portion of the concert, letting another musician come in after her as she finally knew what Steve's eyes held in them that night.</p><p>
  <em>Guilt.</em>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>AND YOU'VE GOT A SMILE,<br/></b>
  <b>THAT COULD LIGHT UP THIS WHOLE TOWN<br/></b>
  <b>I HAVEN'T SEEN IT IN A WHILE,<br/></b>
  <b>SINCE SHE BROUGHT YOU DOWN.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗬</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>SPINNING LIKE A GIRL IN A BRAND NEW DRESS,<br/>WE HAD THIS BIG WIDE CITY ALL TO OURSELVES.<br/>WE BLOCKED THE NOISE WITH THE SOUND OF 'I NEED YOU',<br/>AND FOR THE FIRST TIME I HAD SOMETHING TO LOSE.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER FOURTEEN<br/>PARTY<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy was nervous.</p><p>Actually- nervous would be an understatement..</p><p>You see, it was the night of the annual Stark Gala, June 14th, and Steve had invited Daisy as his date to the event.</p><p>So, Gray stood behind her in that moment, finishing the last touches of the dress she had altered. It was gorgeous, of course, but Daisy felt like she couldn't breathe. The dress was breathtaking- but she felt like it would've been worthy of another woman.</p><p>Nevertheless, she wore the black, ankle-length lace dress with confidence, and the makeup that her best friend had done matched it perfectly. Gray also was kind enough to choose out some earrings and a necklace, along with doing Daisy's makeup and hair for the night.</p><p>"You are literally going to cause everyone's jaws to drop to the floor." Gray exclaimed, stitching together the sleeves for adjustments.</p><p>Daisy scoffed. "Mhm." She sighed sarcastically. "You do realize that The Avengers are hosting that? There are going to be so many pretty people there. I doubt <em>I </em>would make their jaws drop."</p><p>"Aw c'mon! Have a little bit of confidence in yourself." Gray rolled her eyes, tsking. "And besides, I highly doubt that statement is true. Tony Stark may be a billionaire, but that just means he's probably going to show up in pajamas."</p><p>The two laughed as Gray stepped away from Daisy.</p><p>"How can you look so effortlessly flawless?" She asked, fixing up the woman's hair.</p><p>Daisy laughed. "I could be asking you the same thing."</p><p>An abrupt knock at the door pulled the two girls from their conversation. Gray immediately hid in Daisy's bedroom, giving a 'good luck' thumbs-up before leaving.</p><p>Daisy breathed in deeply before opening the door, being faced with her boyfriend's face. Steve held a bouquet of orchids in his hands, and he wore a simple black and white suit.</p><p>"Hi."</p><p>"Hello."</p><p>Steve handed Daisy the orchids, letting her smell them. Thank goodness she wasn't allergic to flowers, or else she'd be in the hospital at this time in the story, trust me.</p><p>"Are you ready to go?" Steve asked politely, smiling softly as Daisy reached to the side and grabbed her purse.</p><p>"I am now!" She beamed, letting Steve shut the door behind her as they walked out towards Steve's car.</p><p>Like the gentlemen he was, he helped Daisy in the car before he sat himself down, and when they finally arrived at the tower, he opened her car door before she could even put her purse back on her shoulder.</p><p>"Wow." Daisy breathed, enchanted by all the glowing lights. It was quite packed, but surprisingly, not a single Avenger could be seen in the main area.</p><p>Steve smiled at Daisy's shocked face. "Come on. We can meet the others upstairs." She nodded in response, face illuminated by the bright yellow and white lights.</p><p>They made it upstairs with no security issues, but Daisy assumed it was just because Steve was beside her the whole time. They met up with the rest of The Avengers and their dates in the lounge upstairs, and Daisy finally got to meet all of their partners.</p><p>"Hi!" She waved, immediately being engulfed into a hug by Natasha. Over the last month or so, they had become great friends, and it felt nice to have someone else to talk to that was part of Steve's friend group.</p><p>"It has been too long!" Wanda spoke as Natasha and Daisy split apart. A few days after Daisy had met The Avengers, she had met Wanda. "We must catch up on our own sometime."</p><p>"Most definitely." Daisy confirmed, being handed a glass of red wine from Steve.</p><p>"How did you know that this was my favourite?" She asked as she sat down next to him.</p><p>Steve shrugged and winked. "I have my sources."</p><p>Daisy looked to everyone, spotting mostly familiar faces, but some were unknown to her. One, a man with red skin, and another, a woman with light brown hair sitting next to Thor.</p><p>"Hi. I don't believe we've met." She talked to the man with the giant yellow crystal in his forehead first, genuinely intrigued by him.</p><p>"Hello Ms. Stone. My name is Vision." Daisy smiled, shaking his hand. It felt like the man had never had his hand shaken in his life, though. "I'm a synthetic body with a machine mind." That would explain it.</p><p>"Well it's nice to meet you, Vision!" She beamed, looking over to the woman sitting next to Thor. "I don't think we've met either!"</p><p>The woman laughed. "No, I don't believe so." She shook Daisy's hand. "I'm Jane. Thor's girlfriend."</p><p>"It's nice to meet you, as well, Jane."</p><p>After the introductions had passed, Tony somehow got a hold of the Asgardian beer, making him drape himself over the couch dramatically.</p><p>Daisy laughed as she watched his feet <em>just </em>touch Sam's legs, folding her legs on top of each other on instinct as she indulged herself in a conversation with everyone.</p><p>Even though they had only met a couple of months prior, it felt like Daisy fit in.</p><p>She felt like she could always talk about music with Natasha, they had such similar tastes in artists it felt real.</p><p>Daisy could talk to Tony about science, which she was very interested in during her high school and college years.</p><p>She talked to Thor about Asgardian history and regular history, and invited him to grab a cup of coffee at her library to read up on how different people wrote about Asgard.</p><p>She chatted with Wanda and Vision about cooking. Even though her and Vision had just met, they immediately bonded over their love of cooking and baking.</p><p>She spoke with Clint about archery, remembering her days at girl scouts and learning how to shoot a bow and arrow. Of course- they were fake arrows.</p><p>Daisy blabbered on and on with Bruce, loving to hear about his many stories of living in India for so many years.</p><p>And she could talk to Steve about anything, and he would listen.</p><p>He smiled fondly at Daisy as she stood up to get a refill on her glass of wine, an enchanting sparkle in his eyes.</p><p>As Daisy had predicted, everyone's jaws were not to the floor at her. But one was. And his was really the only one that mattered to her.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>TONIGHT I'M GONNA DANCE,<br/>FOR ALL THAT WE'VE BEEN THROUGH.<br/>BUT I DON'T WANNA DANCE,<br/>IF I'M NOT DANCING WITH YOU.</b>
</p><p><b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b> <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b></p><p>
  <b>  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>YOU'RE SO GORGEOUS,<br/>I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING TO YOUR FACE.<br/>'CAUSE LOOK AT YOUR FACE.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER FIFTEEN<br/>FACETIME NEWS<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Suddenly, it felt lonely again in Steve's apartment. He was so used to sleeping over with Daisy, whether it be at his apartment or her's.</p><p>Sadly, Daisy was out on a trip with Natasha and Wanda at Niagara Falls for a few days. That meant that Steve had some alone time to himself.</p><p>But alone time wasn't always a good thing.</p><p>It was around ten in the morning, and Steve had called every single one of his friends, but they were all busy for the day.</p><p>So, there he sat on his leather couch, listening to a record of Frank Sinatra as he wallowed in his loneliness.</p><p>He was scared to let his mind wander, as whenever he let it do its thing, it wandered towards a dark place. More specifically; soulmates.</p><p>Steve shook his head, standing up and stretching as his phone started to go off on the coffee table in front of him. He picked it up and accepted the FaceTime call from Daisy.</p><p><em>'Hey!' </em>Her face popped up on the screen, revealing her bright smile.</p><p>"Hello, love." Steve smiled. "Where are you?" He asked, noticing the odd surroundings.</p><p><em>'One of the local gyms in St. Catharines! Natasha and Wanda stayed in the hotel for the day, so I decided to come here and rent a room!' </em>Daisy answered, doing a full 360 spin-around of the workout room.</p><p>"That sounds nice."</p><p><em>'It is!' </em>She agreed. <em>'It's super nice to be able to blast your own music and just do whatever you want for an hour.'</em></p><p>Steve laughed at her giddiness, missing Daisy more than ever.</p><p><em>'Oh right! I called you because I wanted to share some amazing news!' </em>She yelled, jumping up and down a bit.</p><p>"And what's the news?" He asked, beaming.</p><p><em>'I'm going to be performing at the Austin City Lights Music Festival!' </em>Even though he was over-the-moon happy for Daisy, Steve's face dropped. He was planning to discuss the whole soulmate situation with her soon, but he didn't want to put a damper on any of her performances.</p><p>"That's absolutely amazing, Dais'!" He smiled, pushing away his thoughts and focusing on being happy for his girlfriend.</p><p>
  <em>'Apparently this big manager dude was watching the concert last month, and he finally got my number!'</em>
</p><p>Steve laughed at Daisy's excitement, propping his phone up against the glass vase full of roses on his desk. "When is the festival?"</p><p><em>'In a week and half I believe.' </em>She replied.<em> 'Nat, Wanda and I are flying back in a few hours so I'll probably be flying out to Texas tonight.'</em></p><p>"Do you think I can get tickets on that flight right now?" Steve asked, opening up his laptop. Luckily, Tony and Sam had given him a course on how to use technology, so he had no issues directing himself to the airline's website.</p><p><em>'I mean- if you want to come then come, but please don't feel pressured. It's a three hour flight!' </em>Daisy assured, sitting on one of the ellipticals as she spoke to Steve.</p><p>Silence overtook the FaceTime call as Steve ordered the tickets.</p><p>"I <em>just </em>managed to get the last ticket!" He spoke excitedly, shutting his laptop down and taking his phone with him into his room, bringing out a suitcase and beginning to pack for the few nights he'd be staying in Texas.</p><p><em>'The hotel room I booked has one bed, if you want to sleep over for a couple nights.' </em>Daisy explained, resting her hand against the handlebars of the workout machine.</p><p>"That'd be great, if you don't mind."</p><p><em>'Of course I don't mind!' </em>Daisy reassured. <em>'I wouldn't have offered if I minded.' </em>She suddenly swore in shock, making Steve panic a bit and look back up at his screen. <em>'Natasha and Wanda are leaving to the airport in ten minutes to make the flight. I must've gotten the time wrong!' </em>She yelled, grabbing her phone and leaving the workout room. <em>'I have to go! Love you!'</em></p><p>They had never said that. And due to the soulmate stress- Steve hadn't planned on it, even though he loved Daisy with all of his heart.</p><p>Before he could respond with anything, she hung up.</p><p>The next few weeks were going to be hard, that was for sure.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>YOU MAKE ME SO HAPPY, IT TURNS BACK TO SAD.<br/></b>
  <b>THERE'S NOTHING I HATE MORE THAN WHAT I CAN'T HAVE.<br/></b>
  <b>YOU ARE SO GORGEOUS IT MAKES ME SO MAD.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>MORNING, HIS PLACE.<br/>BURNT TOAST SUNDAYS.<br/>YOU KEEP HIS SHIRT,<br/>HE KEEPS HIS WORD.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER SIXTEEN<br/>SLEEPOVER<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>“Perfect!” Daisy smiled, grasping a bottle of wine and a few bags of chips and other goodies.</p><p>It was the first night at the hotel in Texas for Steve and Daisy, so she decided to grab a bunch of food and snacks while Steve was checking them in.</p><p>So far, she had a whole lot of bags of chocolate, chips, gummies and a few packs of salad and microwavable ramen. They were definitely going to go out for dinner for the few nights they were staying in Austin, but Daisy wanted to be stocked up on goodies for when the two were peckish.</p><p>“Your total is fifty dollars and thirty two cents.” The cashier spoke. Daisy tapped her credit card and thanked the man, leaving the grocery store and walking back to the hotel.</p><p>On her way, she glanced at one of the local animal shelters, almost melting at the sight of one of the kittens in the window.</p><p>It was a British Shorthair, and Daisy immediately fell in love with them.</p><p>“Hi, do you mind if I take a look at some of the cats?” She asked as she walked into the shelter.</p><p>The man at the front desk nodded, letting her go off on her own and look at all the kittens. The one that had caught her eye in the window had already leaped on her, brushing her head against Daisy’s stomach and purring against her shirt.</p><p>After a few more minutes of cat petting, the kitten settled down in Daisy’s lap, falling fast asleep on the soft material of her leggings.</p><p>A few more minutes passed, and her phone began to ring, startling the cat a bit. But as she picked up the FaceTime call from Steve and it stopped ringing, the kitten settled down a bit.</p><p><em>‘Hey hon. Are you okay?’ </em>He asked, not noticing her surroundings.</p><p>“Um-yeah… I may or may not have gotten a little caught up.” Daisy replied, pointing the camera down at the sleeping kitten in her lap.</p><p><em>‘Daisy!’ </em>Steve shook his head, laughing. <em>‘Where are you?’</em></p><p>“The little animal shelter a few blocks away from the hotel.”</p><p><em>‘Okay, I’m coming to help you with the groceries, then.’ </em>Daisy nodded and ended the call, continuing to pet the cat in her lap.</p><p>“I think you look like a Bowtie Pasta. I’m gonna name you that.” She looked at the cat, wishing she could take it home.</p><p>Soon enough, Steve had arrived, looking at his girlfriend as she pet the cat that had dozed off in the middle of her lap.</p><p>“Hey.” He spoke, sitting down next to Daisy.</p><p>“Hi.” She replied softly, not wanting to wake Pasta.</p><p>They sat in silence for a few minutes, the grocery bags rustling against the wind coming in through the open windows.</p><p>“I don’t wanna leave her.” Daisy frowned, petting Pasta softly.</p><p>Steve pondered for a moment, smiling softly. “Consider this a beautiful early birthday gift.” He spoke, getting up and walking over to the front desk.</p><p>Daisy couldn’t hear what they were discussing, but she assumed it was serious as the woman handed him a clipboard and pen for him to sign.</p><p>After Steve was done, thankfully he was lucky enough for Daisy to have found a relatively small shelter where they let him take Pasta to the hotel right away, he walked over to his girlfriend and grabbed the groceries.</p><p>“C’mon.” He said, letting her stand up, cat still in her arms. “Luckily, the hotel we’re staying at is pet-friendly, and I’m pretty sure there’s a pet store just beside it.”</p><p>Daisy’s eyes lit up with glee, letting Pasta rest her head on her shoulder. “She’s ours?”</p><p>Steve flinched at the word ‘ours’, feeling guilty for all of the intrusive thoughts he had been having over the course of the last couple of months, but he swallowed it down and smiled.</p><p>“Of course.” He watched Daisy’s face beam brighter than the sun. “Now, let’s go. It’s going to get dark soon.”</p><p>The two walked down the roads of Texas and finally reached their hotel. Steve offered to stop in at the pet store, letting Daisy go up to the hotel room and situate Pasta.</p><p>Thankfully, even though the shelter was small, their animals had been vaccinated, meaning Daisy was able to bring Pasta in the hotel without risking anything.</p><p>After a few minutes, Steve came back with the rest of the groceries, a litter box, a bag of litter, a bag of treats, some cat food, a bed and some toys for Pasta.</p><p>Pasta immediately hopped around, entranced by one of the toys Steve had brought. Daisy quickly slipped into the bathroom and removed her makeup and changed into pajamas, and when she left the washroom, the sun was setting.</p><p>She walked out onto the balcony, resting her forearms on the cold railing as she watched the sun set beneath the city skyline.</p><p>Steve came and stood beside her after a few minutes, also wearing his sleeping clothes. Daisy rested her head on his bicep and shut her eyes softly, letting herself doze off into a daydream.</p><p>It got increasingly colder, so Steve shook Daisy softly awake before walking her slowly back into the hotel room. Pasta ran up to them, so as Daisy got situated sitting up on the bed as she came back to awakeness, Steve picked up the kitten softly and placed her on the bed.</p><p>“What do you wanna watch?” Daisy asked, turning on the hotel TV as Steve laid down in the bed beside her.</p><p>Daisy was still sitting up, so Steve turned over and rested his head on her legs, slowly stroking the kitten that had nuzzled itself into his chest.</p><p>“Maybe a movie.” Steve suggested.</p><p>His girlfriend smiled softly, resting her hands in Steve’s hair and playing with it lightly. “How about <em>The Avengers</em>?”</p><p>Steve groaned. “No offense to the movie makers, but those movie remakes of us are just not very accurate.”</p><p>“Okay, okay.” Daisy laughed. “How about <em>The Wizard of Oz</em>?”</p><p>Steve looked up at Daisy, a loving gaze in his eyes, contrasting against the thoughts he had. “That sounds amazing.”</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>YOU CAN HEAR IT IN THE SILENCE.<br/></b>
  <b>YOU CAN FEEL IT ON THE WAY HOME.<br/></b>
  <b>YOU CAN SEE HER WITH THE LIGHTS OUT.<br/></b>
  <b>YOU'RE IN LOVE, TRUE LOVE.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. 𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>YOU GOT THAT JAMES DEAN DAYDREAM LOOK IN YOUR EYES.<br/>AND I GOT THAT RED LIP CLASSIC<br/>THING THAT YOU LIKE.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN<br/>BIG FESTIVAL<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <span>Daisy stood backstage, letting her generous stagehand help her with the last of her makeup touch ups and her outfit. Since her first couple of songs that she had written were more on the alternative side, she decided to wear a black and sparkly dress with a purple blazer on top.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was so excited, it was her first ever music festival she was performing at! But, over the past few months, Daisy knew that something was wrong with Steve. She could never put her finger on it, but ever since she had brought up the whole ‘L’ word with him, he had been feeling off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was it too early for him? They had been dating for almost six months, it seemed like the perfect time for them to say the word, but Steve had been acting so weird after that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daisy planned to apologize after her interview with Seth Meyers. The interview was only a few weeks away, so she’d have time to figure out what she was going to say and how she’d explain to Steve about how she had been feeling recently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you all for singing along tonight!” The performer on-stage spoke. Daisy stood right next to the door she was supposed to exit and run right onto stage from. “Now, you may not know this </span>
  <em>
    <span>amazing </span>
  </em>
  <span>singer, but I’ve seen some of her work, and trust me, I think you’ll love it.” The artist exclaimed. Daisy could almost hear the smile in their voice. “Give it up for Daisy Laine Stone!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman backstage calmed her nerves and ran out, shaking hands with the other musician before taking a hold of the microphone and smiling ear-to-ear at the crowd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>People held their cellphones up in the air, their girlfriends and boyfriends sat on their shoulders so they could get a better view of the stage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daisy waved and pressed the microphone towards her mouth. “Hello!” She waved walking across the stage. “Now, if you don’t know me; hello. I’m Daisy.” The crowd yelled a mixture of ‘hello!’ and ‘hi!’ and some whistles were heard as well. Not the cat-calling kind, but more of the concert kind. “If you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do </span>
  </em>
  <span>know me, I’ve been writing songs non-stop since I landed my first gig, and I thought I’d share some with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The beat of one of her songs kicked in and she sang, scanning the crowd for a sign of her boyfriend. It was challenging, and she couldn’t manage to see him anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What if he didn’t come? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She worriedly thought, having the massive urge to chew her nails. Nevertheless, she continued spinning and singing, trying to push down her nerve wracking thoughts into the pit of her stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as her next song started and she grabbed one of the guitars that sat up front of the stage, she spotted Steve, the degrading thoughts in her mind disappearing and becoming replaced by happy thoughts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rain began to pour down the festival location, and Daisy’s songs became even more enchanting with the added bonus of the bucketing water. Her hair fell wet, and in between a few songs she took off her purple sparkly blazer, revealing her full black dress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rain soon stopped and it turned into a warm day again, and Daisy finished off her last song with a bang, quite literally. She had the drummist finish it off with a beautiful solo, and everyone cheered for the underground artist who was no longer underground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Before I go, I wanted you all to be the first to know this secret.” She smiled, sitting down on the stage floor and pressing her hands against her cheeks. “Now, you have to promise you won’t tell anyone, but I’m going to be releasing a new song tonight!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though half of the crowd had never heard of her before, people yelled in happiness. A new song was pretty exciting, especially for a girl with no record label.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s called </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gorgeous, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and it’s going to be coming out at eleven tonight in the central time zone.” She spoke, standing up and bowing. “Now, it’s my genuine pleasure to announce the final artist who will be performing tonight, you know her as Clairo.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The crowd went </span>
  <em>
    <span>wild </span>
  </em>
  <span>for that, and Daisy shook the artist’s hand before giving her the microphone and leaving towards the backstage area.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stepped into her dressing room and wiped down her makeup, replacing the purple eyeshadow and bold lip with some brown eyeshadow and tinted chapstick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though Daisy </span>
  <em>
    <span>adored </span>
  </em>
  <span>her performance outfit, she had to tuck it into one of her suitcases and change into something more comfortable, which was simply some loose-fitting jeans and a soft white sweater.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve met her outside of the gigantic festival venue, letting her embrace him in a hug as they met up near his car. More than ever, Daisy realized his distant-looking eyes, and the way his gaze was somehow always elsewhere, even when he was looking directly into her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something was most definitely wrong, and when they both got into the car and conversed, Daisy never forgot about her lingering thoughts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daisy had no idea what was going through Steve’s mind, and that was what scared her the most.</span>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>WHEN WE GO CRASHING DOWN,<br/></b>
  <b>WE COME BACK EVERYTIME.<br/></b>
  <b>'CAUSE WE NEVER GO OUT OF STYLE,<br/></b>
  <b>WE NEVER GO OUT OF STYLE.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    
  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>COMBAT, I'M READY FOR COMBAT.<br/>
I SAY I DON'T WANT THAT,<br/>
BUT WHAT IF I DO?</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/>
<b>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN<br/>
INTERVIEW<br/>
</b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p><em>Maybe it was a good thing that he couldn't manage to book tickets to Daisy's Seth Meyers interview</em>, Steve thought to himself.</p><p>He was sitting in front of his computer screen and waiting for his girlfriend's portion to go live. All day he had been constantly thinking about what he would do. Steve knew that he needed to break up with Daisy, he couldn't let her be hurt even more if he ever found his soulmate, but he just didn't know when.</p><p>Steve was madly in love with Daisy, but he knew that if he kept the secret of him wishing to meet his soulmate from her, she'd fall out of love with <em>him.</em></p><p>He also knew that Daisy had been suspicious of him for the past month. Steve <em>had </em>been acting weirdly, and his girlfriend was starting to catch onto his weird moods and glances.</p><p>Seth Meyers finally introduced Daisy Stone onto the stage, and she sat down. Steve had helped pick out her outfit, even though he didn't have any fashion sense regarding women whatsoever. Even though Steve was no help, Daisy looked breathtaking as usual.</p><p>"Welcome to the show!" The host exclaimed, taking his spot at his desk. Daisy and Seth shook hands before she sat down, crossing her legs over and folding her hands in her lap.</p><p>"Thanks! It's an honour to be here." She spoke, smiling widely.</p><p>"So, you've risen up the charts quite quickly, am I right?" Daisy nodded, placing her hand beneath her chin and resting her head on her arm. "Do we have anything to look forward to in the near future?"</p><p>The woman smiled, sending an arrow through Steve's heart as he gazed at the laptop screen. "Well, I just released a song two weeks ago, but a few days ago I was lucky enough to get offered a record deal!"</p><p>"Wow!" Seth clapped, leading the small audience to clap as well. "Did you take it?"</p><p>"Let's just say that there'll be an album coming in the near future, and hopefully there'll be many more to come after that." She smiled, winking a bit at the camera.</p><p>Steve felt cheesy butterflies erupt in his chest, like the kind you get on your highschool first date. But he tried to push them down into the pits of his stomach. He wanted to avoid every single lovey-dovey feeling that he could until he found his soulmate.</p><p>At the moment, he felt as if he had two soulmates.</p><p>The one he was meant to be with, and the one he wanted to be with.</p><p>Daisy.</p><p>Her voice was like a melody in Steve's ears as she spoke about her work enthusiastically. "I've actually been writing songs for a very long time, most of my songs that I've recently released have ties to my old work as a teenager." She explained. "Whether it be lyrics, melody, or beat, they always have that sense of nostalgia for me."</p><p>The interviewer nodded, straightening up his papers and smiling at Daisy. "May we talk about your newest song, <em>Gorgeous</em>, for a moment?" Seth asked, earning a nod from the singer. "The lyrics have gotten <em>amazing </em>reviews from critics. The melody, the beat, it's one of the greatest songs that have come out this year! It rose so incredibly fast up the charts, and everyone is begging to know who this song is about."</p><p>Daisy immediately turned red and began nervously laughing. They were open about their relationship, they weren't scared of people finding out, but Steve was worried. He was going to doom their relationship in a few weeks, and her fans and his fans would be devastated if they clung onto the couple too much.</p><p>"Well, I guess if you <em>have </em>to know." She smirked, the crowd yelling and clapping, absolutely <em>dying </em>to know who the hit song was about. "<em>Gorgeous </em>is about my boyfriend."</p><p>Seth hid his face in his papers, obviously expecting more of an answer. "Can we have a name for this <em>mysterious </em>man?"</p><p>Daisy feigned a thinking look, shaking her head as she gave a simple answer. "I'm sorry, but no." She laughed and covered her mouth with her hand, the sleeve of her gold outfit covering up her nose as well.</p><p>"Okay, well it's going to be a mystery for now, folks." The interviewer dejectedly sighed, switching up his papers and reading from his notes. "On a totally different note, what can we expect from your upcoming projects?"</p><p>"Well, for starters, in about a month's time, I have my first ever solo concert playing." The crowd cheered and clapped, excited for the performance. "But, I don't have enough songs published to be able to play for that long, so, I'm going to be releasing three singles from the album before the concert happens."</p><p>Seth nodded, happy that he was getting <em>some </em>content, even if it wasn't about Daisy's love life. "What kind of album do you think you're going to go for?"</p><p>"I'm really hoping to do a very soft and kind of forest-y album if you get what I mean." She revealed, twiddling her thumbs. "Something that you can play on vinyl and run through an overgrown, abandoned castle with your girlfriend, kind of thing."</p><p>"Speaking of girlfriends..." Seth trailed off, leaning towards the microphone a little bit. "Some sources have come out and spoken about your sexuality to us. Now, if you don't want to reveal anything about it, don't feel pressured to. We don't do that kinds of stuff here." He explained, trying to make Daisy feel as comfortable with the topic as she could.</p><p>"No, I'm fine talking about my sexuality, but I'd like to wait to openly discuss it." She spoke, picking at her nails a bit out of nervousness. Seth nodded in understanding, he was a good talk show host, and he knew when he needed to stop. "I don't want my entire career to be possibly jeopardize based on if I'm part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I'm going to stay quiet for a bit longer about it."</p><p>The crowd clapped in understanding and let the interview continue with fluidness, the conversation bounced back and forth extremely well.</p><p>Steve lovingly gazed into the computer screen, wishing that he could simply snap and make the everlasting feeling of wanting to meet his soulmate go away.</p><p>Even if Daisy would turn out to be his soulmate in the end, how would she ever forgive him? Steve would simply have to live in loneliness forever because of his mistakes.</p><p>Besides, the chances that she <em>was </em>his soulmate was like one in one hundred seventy-sevenmillion.</p><p>"Let's get real for a moment, shall we?" Seth proposed, linking his hands together. Daisy nodded, smiling and letting her ponytail fall down to her shoulder for a moment. "Who is going to be inspiring you to write this next album?"</p><p>"I really want to make this album out of different stories. I usually write songs about my experiences and what <em>I've </em>gone through, but with this I want to just tie a story together and make something that people will remember as a story-telling album."</p><p>Steve always admired Daisy's mind. She could make anything up in a second, and it was something he loved about her. The next album that she made would be astounding, and he knew it. But he only wished that he would be able to write it with her and be there for the process. Just to try and find out how her mind worked.</p><p>She could piece together the smallest of clues and make it into a complex of a story that could be published and sold a million times. He always loved to sit and listen to her theorize about how a simple number decided the fate of her favourite movie franchise. It was enchanting to hear her voice go on and on about something Steve barely understood.</p><p>Seeing Daisy so enthusiastic everyday was a blessing, and he was going to be incredibly regretful the day he didn't get to see it. And for a split second, as Daisy stepped off the stage and disappeared off of the screen, Steve thought he saw his soulmate string lead straight into his laptop.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>ALL THE KING'S HORSES,<br/>
</b>
  <b>ALL THE KING'S MEN,<br/>
</b>
  <b>COULDN'T PUT ME TOGETHER AGAIN.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/>
</b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
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  </b>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. 𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗦</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN THERE.<br/>SHOULD'VE BURST THROUGH THE DOORS,<br/>WITH THAT 'BABY I'M RIGHT HERE' SMILE.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER NINETEEN<br/></b><b>HE LEAVES<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy sat on the couch, laying in peaceful bliss with Steve at the end of the couch and Pasta laying on her stomach, stirring every few moments.</p><p>Steve glanced at the two, heart wrenching back and forth. He knew he had to talk to his girlfriend, and he had to do it at that moment. It would be the only chance he would have.</p><p>"Daisy, can I talk to you?" He asked, sitting up straight. She nodded, lifting Pasta off of her body and letting the kitten scurry off to eat and drink.</p><p>"What's wrong?" She asked, a painful hurt in her stomach.</p><p>A piece of her knew what was coming. She had known ever since he had showed up at her doorstep and asked her to give him a chance.</p><p>One of them would start seeing their soulmate string more and more often. Then, that'd lead to them wishing to meet their soulmate.</p><p>It was inevitable, and Daisy knew that from the start, their relationship was doomed.</p><p>"I've been seeing my soulmate string more and more often..." Steve trailed off, striking Daisy in the heart as he began to tear up. "I think- I think I want to find them."</p><p>Daisy scrunched her eyes tightly, trying to wake up from this nightmare. Tears began sliding down her face, bouncing left and right as her body shook.</p><p>"You said, at the very beginning- the very <em>foundation</em>that our relationship stood on, you insinuate that you chose me over whoever else was out there, who was meant for you." She stated, struggling to see Steve's heartbroken face through tears upon tears sliding down her cheeks and dribbling down her jawline. "And you want me to just accept the fact that you changed your mind?"</p><p>Steve looked down at his hands which were folded up in his lap. "Please, just hear where I'm coming from-"</p><p>"Hear where you're coming from?" She confirmed, her voice cracking. "After so many months of trusting you with my entire life, you just simply changed your mind?"</p><p>Daisy's eyes met Steve's as he stood up, and he knew he'd regret everything he said next, but his thoughts were fueled by his misery.</p><p>"Don't be selfish." He stated, making more tears run down Daisy's face as she scoffed and stepped back a bit, away from Steve.</p><p>"You're asking me to stop being selfish?" She asked rhetorically, wiping the tears off of her cheeks and letting more fall. "Every goddamn day of my life- every <em>goddamn </em>day, Steve, I have put everyone else before me. I bidded for five different venues that were supposed to be my library. <em>Five. </em>And everytime, I let the second-highest bidder take it when I won, because I knew that they deserved it more than me.</p><p>"Even in that time when I gave the things I wanted away, I was jobless and on the verge of not being able to pay my bills. And as soon as things go my way, my whole life crumbles.</p><p>"I grew up watching everyone around me find their soulmates. And I told myself I was fine with it because I was a <em>good person.</em>" Daisy ranted, her vision blurring more and more as her voice strained more and more. Her body wanted to lay down, but her mind was burning with anger and sorrow, she needed to stand up for herself. Steve had <em>no </em>right to call her selfish in any sense of the word. "And that took a mental toll on me like I never thought was possible.</p><p>"All I wanted in life was to grow up, have a stable job, and maybe take a few things that I wished for on the way. And as soon as I get those few things I wished for, I get called selfish by the person I thought I could trust no matter <em>what.</em></p><p>"You are so shit at lying. I noticed you were distant right at the start. And I cried myself to sleep every night wondering when you were going to drop the hammer that you fell out of love with me. And every single one of those nights I imagined every single situation that might happen.</p><p>"But I never, <em>ever </em>imagined you would even <em>think </em>to call <em>me </em>selfish." Daisy finished, voice hoarse and eyes sore. Her body ached as she sat down, placing her hands in her face and letting herself sob.</p><p>Steve sat beside her, wanting to brush his fingers through her hair and tell her everything was alright.</p><p>"Am I really selfish for wanting myself to be happy?" Daisy asked, her voice cracking and making Steve's heart shatter into a million pieces all over again. "I just thought I deserved this one thing."</p><p>"You did. And I ruined it." Steve spoke, picking at his fingers. "I just... I was stuck in the ice for seventy years, Daisy. I never saw that string and I thought I was doomed. And now I've seen it I just- I just don't want to let it go."</p><p>Daisy smiled sadly, tears still streaming down her face. "I guess we're both pretty pathetic then, aren't we?"</p><p>Steve merely nodded, his nose and eyelids puffy and red from being on the verge of crying for the last ten minutes.</p><p>"Did- did you ever love me? Did you just.... make that up to satisfy me?" Daisy asked, hurting too much inside to even think about what she said. They had a few glasses of wine before Steve admitted he needed to break up with her, so the words began to fly out of her mouth. "Did you do it just to laugh while I made you my world?"</p><p>His heart shattered as Daisy asked those questions</p><p>"Of course not. I changed my mind about my soulmate, Daisy. Not about you." He stated, leaning to face the love of his life. "Why would you even ask that?"</p><p>"Isn't it obvious?" She scoffed. "I lied. That first girlfriend I had? I wasn't experimenting. We dated for a year. About six months in, I was ready to tell her I loved her, and then I found out that she was completely toying with me and telling people every single secret I had ever told her.</p><p>"Something in me just always believed that any relationship I would ever get into after that would be the exact same."</p><p>Steve looked at her lovingly, wishing that she had told him that in a different moment because it became so bittersweet he could taste it on his tongue.</p><p>"I would never do that to you, no matter what."</p><p>"But you fell out of love with me." Daisy stated, her eyelashes touched by small bulbs of tears, they almost looked like snowflakes. "When?"</p><p>Steve sighed. "I never did."</p><p>A few minutes passed, and those minutes turned into longer. The sun began to set and rain began to pour down outside of the window in Daisy's apartment.</p><p>Her body was too tired from crying out in heartbreak, and she was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion.</p><p>She let her kitten Pasta jump up onto her lap, allowing some sense of comfort to arrive in the grief-stricken woman.</p><p>"Please, please just leave."</p><p>Steve nodded, understanding every bit of the word. He grabbed his coat and the few items of clothing in Daisy's dresser that she had there for every time he came over.</p><p>The woman laid down and rested her head on the armchair of her couch as the door of her apartment shut. Pasta padded her little paws against her stomach before settling in the crook of Daisy's neck and falling asleep.</p><p>Daisy grabbed the bottle of wine off of her coffee table and attempted to take a drink without waking up the cat, and ended up successful.</p><p>She would take care of herself tomorrow, nothing really mattered on the night you got broken up on.</p><p>"Hello?" Gray asked, immediately picking up the phone as her best friend called. The woman could barely understand the drunken words strewn together by her friend.</p><p><em>"Can you-"</em> Hiccup. <em>"Can you please come pick me up?"</em> Daisy asked, hiccupping in between almost every word. Gray immediately jumped out of bed and shrugged her house robe on.</p><p>Jo looked at his wife in confusion, still sitting in bed with his reading glasses on. He was reading <em>The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, </em>it was his favourite and he couldn't stop re-reading it.</p><p>"Daisy. Something's wrong and she's shitfaced drunk." Gray stated, grabbing her phone and jacket and leaving her and Jo's bedroom.</p><p>Her husband wasn't far behind, he was equally as worried for his best friend as his wife was. He grabbed the keys to the car and put on his jacket as well, grabbing a tray of his homemade muffins that Daisy loved as he followed Gray out the front door of their apartment.</p><p>Gray rushed out to her car in the pouring rain, letting Jo take the wheel in the front seat and navigate towards Daisy's house.</p><p>The drunk woman's best friend held the tray of baked goods in her hands, ignoring every single one of her instincts to eat the delicious muffins.</p><p>Jo grabbed his spare key out of his pocket and unlocked Daisy's apartment door only to find her almost passed out drunk on her sofa. He picked her up and took her down to the car, buckling his best friend up in the back seat and making sure she was safe.</p><p>They drove back to Jo and Gray's flat and situated her in their guest bedroom, placing some painkillers and a glass of water on the bedside table for when she woke up.</p><p>The two also did her the favour of blocking out all of the sunlight in the room before leaving her to sleep the night away.</p><p>All Daisy wanted to do was forget that the night ever happened, but she would never be able to.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>AND THE HOURS PASS BY,<br/></b>
  <b>AND I JUST WANNA BE ALONE<br/></b>
  <b>BUT YOUR CLOSE FRIENDS ALWAYS SEEM TO KNOW<br/></b>
  <b>IF THERE'S SOMETHING REALLY WRONG.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
</p><p>
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  </b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗥𝗧</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>WELL, MAYBE WE GOT LOST IN TRANSLATION<br/>MAYBE I ASKED FOR TOO MUCH,<br/>MAYBE THIS THING WAS A MASTERPIECE<br/>'TILL YOU TORE IT ALL UP.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY<br/>FIRST CONCERT<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>A few weeks had passed since Daisy had her heart crushed, and with the help of Gray and Jo, she wasn't alone.</p><p>She busied herself with writing songs at the library, but she found it hard to write songs about something she couldn't experience anymore.</p><p>Her best friends wanted to set her up on a few blind dates to get her mind off of Steve, but Daisy wanted to wait a bit. Whoever she went on a date with didn't deserve to try and finish the night with a girl who was still in love with her ex-boyfriend.</p><p>Thankfully, Jo and Gray lived in an animal-friendly apartment, so Daisy was able to stay at their place for moral support and still take Pasta with her.</p><p>"Are you ready for this?" Jo asked, pouring a cup of coffee into a travel mug. "You can always postpone the date and refund the tickets." He offered.</p><p>Daisy shook her head. "I'd feel bad. Besides, a lot of people have performed <em>minutes </em>after something even more horrible happened, so I think I can deal with it."</p><p>"I'll drive you and be watching in the third row." Jo spoke, kissing his wife on the cheek as she sat comfortably on the couch.</p><p>"And I have my laptop open to the streaming page." Gray smiled, motioning to her five-month pregnant stomach.</p><p>The two best friends embarked on a small road trip towards Barclay Center. It only took around ten minutes for Jo and Daisy to arrive at their destination, and the two parted ways so one could have an early dinner and the other could get ready for her concert.</p><p>Luckily, her dressing room provided different delicious foods, and she was able to try a little bit of everything as she worked with her makeup artist and got her face ready for the performance.</p><p>Of course, she had a bunch of costume changes to prepare for during the show. Planning out her different looks from head to toe was one of the things that kept her mind off of what had happened only a few weeks ago.</p><p>For the first portion of the concert, she was going to perform some of her more <em>badass </em>songs. Ones that made her feel empowered. So, fittingly, she wore a black suit-looking top and a matching skirt for her bottoms.</p><p>"Okay, just to let you know, we have the soundcheck in around ten minutes." Daisy's usher warned. The musician nodded and stood up, pushing back the last of her hair into her ponytail.</p><p>"Sounds good. Let's get going!"</p><p>On the other side of things, Steve was equally, if not even more heartbroken than Daisy was. He had been desperately trying to chase down his string in order to convince himself that he had done the right thing, but the golden tie around his pinkie finger had been showing up less and less over the weeks.</p><p>Countless times he had found himself accidentally passing Daisy's library, and wishing he could go in and share one more cup of hot chocolate with the woman he loved.</p><p>Sometimes he even saw her through the window. She was usually with Gray and Jo or Pasta, but on the few occasions Daisy had seen Steve walk past, she would always reposition some of the vines to cover up the window.</p><p>Steve rubbed his eyes and scanned the room of the Tower he was in. He had been staying with his fellow Avengers to try and distract himself from his worsening moods and emotions.</p><p>"Hey, dude." Sam spoke, resting his hand on Steve's shoulder as he got up from the couch. "You good?"</p><p>Steve nodded. "I'm just- I'm just going to try and stay back in the apartment for a bit."</p><p>Sam smiled in understanding, hugging his friend in the moment of vulnerability. "If you need anything, you know you can call me."</p><p>"Thanks, man." Steve replied, grabbing one of his duffel bags normally used for training and left the tower, letting himself make the long trek towards his Brooklyn apartment.</p><p>Of course, he rode his motorcycle down the roads of Manhattan and finally made it past the city border into his hometown.</p><p>Now, let's move back to Daisy.</p><p>She was starting up the concert with one of her favourite songs she had ever written. The amount of people standing in front of her and dancing and singing along to her songs was giving her nervous butterflies in her stomach.</p><p>For the first time in a few weeks Daisy felt genuinely good about where she was standing that night. Her stage was her happy place, it was what he realized that night.</p><p>The next hour and a half went by faster than a hare for Daisy, and she sat at the beautiful grand piano in a gorgeous ball gown.</p><p>Steve watched through his TV screen as the woman he let go performed to a huge stadium, letting his tears free fall down his cheeks.</p><p>He knew that he had made the most <em>horrible </em>mistake he ever had.</p><p>Nothing compared to losing the love of his life.</p><p>He could only hope that the heartbreak would be worth it, and one day he would meet his soulmate. But even if he did, he'd never stop thinking about Daisy Laine Stone.</p><p>"Okay, so my best friend, Jo, is in this crowd." The musician spoke, eliciting a line of waves towards the seat she was pointing towards. "And actually, his wife is having a baby!"</p><p>Daisy stepped down the stage and walked down the middle walkway in the audience, waving at her friend and hugging him briefly through the horde of fans.</p><p>"This envelope-" She stated, holding onto a small little slip of paper that Jo and Gray had given her earlier that night. "Holds the gender of my two best friends' child."</p><p>The crowd went <em>wild. </em>Everyone was always a sucker for a concert reveal of anything.</p><p>Daisy stepped back on stage and opened the envelope, placing down her black and white checkered microphone for a moment so she could grab the paper with the gender on it.</p><p>"Obviously, this doesn't decide the baby's <em>gender, </em>just their sex." She confirmed, reading out directly from the slip of paper. "It's a boy!"</p><p>The crowd cheered even though they didn't even know the couple who would soon hold their beautiful baby boy in their arms.</p><p>"I won't give away too much information about my friends, but please say a big congratulations to the mother, who is watching at home as we speak." The crowd went crazy and Daisy smiled brightly, waving as her next song kicked up through the loudspeakers.</p><p>A little bit broke inside as Steve watched the love of his life laugh, while he could only continue to cry himself to sleep every night because of what he did.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>I'D LIKE TO BE MY OLD SELF AGAIN, BUT I'M STILL TRYING TO FIND IT.<br/>AFTER PLAID SHIRT DAYS AND NIGHTS<br/>WHEN YOU MADE ME YOUR OWN.<br/>NOW YOU MAIL BACK MY THINGS<br/></b>
  <b>AND I WALK HOME ALONE.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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  </b>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪𝗦</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>I STILL REMEMBER THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE.<br/>LIT THROUGH THE DARKNESS, AT 1:58.<br/>THE WORDS THAT YOU WHISPERED, FOR JUST US TO KNOW.<br/></b>
  <b>YOU TOLD ME YOU LOVED ME,<br/></b>
  <b>SO WHY DID YOU GO AWAY?</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE<br/>SHE KNOWS<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>After her first concert, Daisy had decided to spend a lot more time at her library. She forgot how much she missed the simple life she had.</p><p>The afternoon glow of a beautiful Tuesday shone in through the sheer curtains, the shadows of snowflakes dancing upon the floor. It was the first snow of November, and Daisy thought it would be the perfect day to serve hot chocolate and read.</p><p>Most of her regulars came in that day, and Daisy enjoyed the company of people that weren't Gray and Jo. She loved her best friends to the moon and back, but she had been staying with them for almost two months, and she needed to get out of the house.</p><p>The day passed fairly quickly, and soon enough it was noon.</p><p>Daisy shut her library so she could go get lunch. It had been a while since she had gone out to get a meal instead of staying in, so she decided to treat herself.</p><p>She made sure to take her laptop in her computer bag so she wouldn't be as bored as she usually was while eating lunch alone.</p><p>So then Daisy began her journey and walked towards the center of Manhattan, letting the small snowflakes dust the tips of her eyelashes and the bridge of her nose. Of course, it was freezing outside, so she was decked out in a fluffy coat with a scarf and a beanie.</p><p>Finally, Daisy arrived at a warm lunch place. As soon as she walked in, her fingers regained feeling and the snow melted off her face.</p><p>"Hey! What can I get you?" The man at the bar asked. Daisy scanned the chalkboard menu that was placed behind him before ordering.</p><p>"Can I just get a chicken sandwich and a glass of water please?" She asked, handing the barman a few twenty dollar bills before sitting down and grabbing her laptop out of her bag.</p><p>A hobby she had gotten herself into was video editing. Daisy wished that she would be able to direct and edit her own music videos once she got the chance to, so she paid for a few online classes and had been learning how to completely transform the videos that she recorded as possible drafts for a future music video.</p><p>A skill that came along with video editing for Daisy was photoshopping, and so in that moment she decided to busy herself with attempting to create some potential album art from a photoshoot she had done with Gray a few days prior.</p><p>Before her food could arrive on the table in front of her, Daisy spotted her string glowing brighter than it ever had before.</p><p>That was her chance. And she took it.</p><p>Ignoring the blatant stares from the customers around her, she ran out of the shop, grabbing her laptop and rushing out the door with it as fast as she could.</p><p>Daisy ran as fast as she could, following the golden string for a few blocks before it would have the chance to disappear.</p><p>Finally, after what had seemed like ages, the string turned slightly to the right. Dais continued running until it turned a complete ninety degrees into a small coffee shop.</p><p>She scanned the string until it pushed through the window. For the first time, Daisy saw her soulmate string wrap around someone's torso and create something like a golden crown on their head.</p><p>Their eyes glowed golden upon Daisy looking at them in shock, but her soulmate didn't seem to notice her staring through the window.</p><p>Of all people it could've been, it was Steve.</p><p>The woman gasped and desperately attempted to hide herself from the window, not wanting to get spotted by her soulmate.</p><p>A part of her was happy. She found the person she was meant to be with forever. Finally, she got to see glowing golden eyes and her string wrapping around their torso in an elegant fashion.</p><p>But that other part of Daisy, the logical part of her, was scared. Her soulmate was Steve. The one she had wished for, but also the one who had broken her heart.</p><p>It was good news though, right? She constantly tried to convince herself that it'd be okay, but it was far more complicated than boy meets girl.</p><p>The reason he had broken up with her <em>was </em>to find his soulmate. But then again, that meant that Steve was convinced that Daisy wasn't his soulmate.</p><p>Her head clouded with judgement, she made her way back to the sandwich shop and sat back down, graciously accepting her meal and apologizing for the mishap that had occurred minutes earlier.</p><p>"It's alright." The waitress spoke, smiling in understanding towards Daisy. "You'd be surprised at how often soulmates meet each other here."</p><p>"Really?" Daisy asked.</p><p>"It's quite common, actually." She replied. "This shop is like a Pinterest board, everyone wants to meet their soulmate in the underground sandwich shop."</p><p>Daisy laughed, taking a sip of her water. "I'd die to meet my soulmate here."</p><p>The waitress cocked her head in confusion, eyebrows furrowing at the woman's statement. "Wasn't that them? You ran pretty fast for something that's not soulmate related."</p><p>"It's someone I wish it wasn't, but also someone I wish it was at the same time."</p><p>The girl nodded in understanding, scribbling something on one of Daisy's napkins. "I guess we're dealing with the same thing, then. Call me if you ever want to hang out and get your mind off of things."</p><p>Daisy smiled politely back and continued on her photo editing. If Steve was trying to find other people, then she had every right to.</p><p>She tucked the napkin with the waitress' number in her laptop bag and tried to let everything that had happened in the last ten minutes sink in.</p><p>Steve was her <em>soulmate</em>.</p><p>Daisy was letting herself be happy in the moment, and for once she was going to push the logical thoughts to her future self.</p><p>After she finished her sandwich, she packed up her laptop and ordered a donut and coffee to-go, not really wanting to have to make herself a hot caffeinated beverage when she got back to the library.</p><p>Her phone rang with an unknown number, and she happily talked to one of her old childhood friends, Clay again. He had caught her up on everything that had been going on in his life, and vice versa.</p><p>Daisy said goodbye to him and hung up just as she reached the library and opened it, basking in the sweet contrast between the chilly Manhattan November and the warmth of the library.</p><p>Even though everything was coming crashing down around her, Daisy was genuinely happy for the first time in weeks.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>I DO RECALL NOW, THE SMELL OF THE RAIN.<br/></b>
  <b>FRESH OFF THE PAVEMENT, I RAN OFF THE PLANE.<br/>THAT JULY 9TH, THE BEAT OF YOUR HEART.<br/>IT JUMPS THROUGH YOUR SHIRT,<br/>I CAN STILL FEEL YOUR ARMS.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0023"><h2>23. 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>I CAN SEE YOU STARING HONEY,<br/></b>
  <b>LIKE HE'S JUST YOUR UNDERSTUDY.<br/></b>
  <b>LIKE YOU'D GET YOUR KNUCKLES BLOODY FOR ME.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO<br/></b><b>ALBUM WRITING<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>“Okay, let’s get this done!” Daisy yelled in excitement.</p><p>She sat in a recording room with Gray, Jo, and a few professional audio editors and directors. It was the day to continue writing songs for her upcoming album, and this time, she had a proper office to work in along with a sound booth and other producers helping her.</p><p>Gray had come along because of her job. As a musical theatress, she had an incredible singing talent, so she offered to help with some backing vocals if needed.</p><p>Jo was mainly there in case anything went wrong with the baby, but everyone really knew that the main reason he was there was because he always loved sound design and the technical setup behind everything.</p><p>“Why don’t we start with vocals for the singles you’ve already performed live, and do a little update on them for the album.” One of the producers, Maggie, suggested.</p><p>Daisy nodded in approval. “I was actually going to suggest that. I want the album to be full of more fresh, revamps of these songs, not just repeats of the ones I’ve already published.”</p><p>And with that, the recording began.</p><p>Her sad songs were filled with emotion, she channeled the thoughts of Steve that the pessimistic side of her had, even though they made her teeth clench with sorrow.</p><p>Her love songs were also filled with an equal amount of emotion, she remembered how she felt when she found out that Steve was her soulmate, and how her breath was taken away.</p><p>For the upbeat and happy songs she sang with her mind full of thoughts about her friends and the people she had fallen in love with over the years, even if it was platonic or unrequited.</p><p>By the end of their recording portion of the session, they had finished re-recording four of her pre-existing songs to fit the vibe and post-production energy of her album.</p><p>The next few hours were spent hunched over a piece of paper, and Jo had left and come back with food and Daisy’s kitten for moral support.</p><p>Even though she preferred to write her own music, Daisy was on a deadline, and she couldn’t lie; it felt good having a team helping her with revisions in the melody.</p><p>They didn’t help her with lyrics, she wanted it to be authentic and come from her heart.</p><p>“We’ll be back in a few hours, we need to get to the doctor and do a few tests for the baby.” Gray stated, packing up a few of the leftovers from lunch and pulling her coat on.</p><p>Jo grabbed the bags and waved, hugging Daisy before he left behind his wife.</p><p>Another hour passed, and they had sufficiently written and chosen enough songs for an eleven-song album. Of course, most of them would have to be revised at a later date, but thankfully, they got most of it done.</p><p>The group began to start recording almost as soon as Gray and Jo got back, ready to work on the melody and background vocals first, then work their way up to Daisy’s main solos.</p><p>She did most of the guitar and piano, but she had a helper do the drums and other instruments through one of the synthesizers they had rented along with the producers and the recording space.</p><p>“I do want to make sure this album has a perfect ratio of an uplift and a downlift, so maybe we should look over the order of the songs and record them that way.” Daisy suggested, placing her pencil in her mouth as she chatted with the producers in-between recordings.</p><p>“That <em>would </em>add a sense of connection from the listeners.” One of the co-writers, William, agreed. Daisy had been friends with William for a few months, they were both connected to the same music label and bonded from there. “But we are on a tight schedule, we may need to split the recording portions in two.”</p><p>Daisy nodded, tapping her chin. “And that would ruin the connection that would be there.” She crossed her legs, trying to think of different options on how to keep that real connection to her listeners.</p><p>“What if we record half of the album today, then do the more relaxed portion of the album over the next few days?” Maggie questioned, opening up even <em>more </em>options.</p><p>“That actually could work!” Daisy exclaimed, quickly spinning her chair over to face the desk and writing down the songs in the album.</p><p>She split them into three groups. Group one was all the songs they would record that day, group two consisted of all the songs they would be recording during their second session, and the final group was full of the songs that Daisy would record at her home.</p><p>“Okay, let’s finish these recordings and call it a day!” Jo stated, clapping his hands together as everyone got back to their recording positions.</p><p>Daisy smiled. She knew that everything was going to be okay.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>I'M NOT YOUR PROBLEM ANYMORE,<br/>SO WHO AM I OFFENDING NOW?<br/>YOU WERE MY CROWN, NOW I'M IN EXILE SEEING YOU OUT.<br/>I THINK I'VE SEEN THIS FILM BEFORE.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0024"><h2>24. 𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
</p><p>
  <b>NOW I'M STANDING ALONE IN A CROWDED ROOM<br/></b>
  <b>AND WE'RE NOT SPEAKING.<br/></b>
  <b>AND I'M DYING TO KNOW, IS IT KILLING YOU<br/></b>
  <b>LIKE IT'S KILLING ME?</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE<br/></b><b>MEETING AGAIN<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy had finally moved back into her apartment after staying at Gray and Jo's for the last month and a half. She had just finished unpacking some of her stuff, and she was proud at how far she had come.</p><p>She went to dinner with the waitress, Amy, who she had met a month back, but they decided to just stay friends. Apparently she had figured out things with her soulmate, and instead of dating to try and keep their minds off of their troubles, Daisy and Amy became very close friends.</p><p>Amy was pansexual, and was officialy dating her soulmate named Mark. Daisy was super happy for them, and only wished that she could have what they had.</p><p>"Hey, are you still there?" Natasha asked. Daisy was on a phone call with her Avenger friend, and she had zoned out thinking about her soulmate.</p><p>"Sorry, what did you want to ask me?"</p><p>Natasha sighed, laughing a bit at her friend's short attention span. "Tony wanted to have a small pre-Christmas celebration with a bunch of people this year, but it's just us and a few others." She explained as Daisy slumped down on her couch. "I don't know if you celebrate Christmas, but it'll be a fun dinner party anyway!"</p><p>"Yeah, sure! It sounds like fun." Daisy exclaimed, taking a sip of water that she had placed on her coffee table.</p><p>"Really?" Natasha asked, picking at her nails. "I thought you would say no. Steve's gonna be there, you know." She stated.</p><p>Daisy shook her head and smiled. "I don't care. <em>He </em>dumped <em>me.</em> I'm completely fine now."</p><p>"That's the spirit." Nat smirked. "We're having dinner at around five thirty on the twenty-third, but it's a potluck, so come at around three and bring something good!"</p><p>"Sure thing." Daisy agreed, smiling and putting her feet on the couch and laying down. It was tomorrow, but she really didn't care if it was short notice or not. "Who else is going to be there?"</p><p>"Tony, Sam, Steve, me, Wanda, Vision, Rhodey, Pepper, Clint and his wife, and Happy." Natasha answered.</p><p>"Wait, what about Thor and Bruce?" Daisy asked.</p><p>Nat sighed, rubbing her fingers against the bridge of her nose. "Well, Thor decided to go seek out these things called <em>Infinity Stones, </em>and Bruce disappeared after one of our missions."</p><p>"Oh no!"</p><p>"Yeah. They won't be here for Christmas, but hopefully they'll find their way back soon."</p><p>Daisy nodded, silently agreeing and hoping that her two friends would get back to New York sooner than later. "I'll be there at three fifteen, I'll make a quick stop to get some white wine on the way."</p><p>"Sounds good. See you!"</p><p>The two ended their phone call, leaving both of them to do their own thing. Daisy got up and grabbed her coat, exiting her apartment building and immediately falling in love with the fresh air flowing through her lungs.</p><p>She walked down to one of the grocery stores near her and grabbed a few ingredients to make a homemade bread and cheese platter for the dinner party.</p><p>After she had everything, she accidentally bumped into a familiar face.</p><p>"Steve, hi!" Daisy greeted, picking up some of the products that had strewn themselves across the floor and placed them back into her basket.</p><p>"Oh- hi." Steve responded in surprise.</p><p>To be honest, he wasn't at <em>all </em>ready to greet Daisy, even if it had been months since he had broken it off with her. Tony had warned him about her probable appearance at the Christmas dinner party he was planning, but Steve was <em>not </em>prepared to bump into her before that day.</p><p>"What are you bringing to the dinner?" She asked, desperately trying to make some form of conversation with her ex.</p><p>"Oh-um, I'm planning to try my hand at some squash soup. Clint offered to give me some ingredients from his farm so all I need is a few spices." Daisy nodded as Steve scratched the back of his neck impulsively. "What about you?"</p><p>"I'm making a cheese and bread platter!" She beamed, seemingly unaffected by the awkward situation that was taking place. "It's pretty basic for a Christmas dinner party, but I haven't cooked by myself in a <em>long </em>time."</p><p>Steve nodded. "I should get going, Sam promised to help me with the whole soup thing." He quickly made up an excuse and left, paying for his spices and dishes and left the grocery store.</p><p>Why was she so calm? They were exes meeting for the first time, it was <em>awkward.</em></p><p>Daisy was over him, and he knew it. But the truth hurt him so much more than he ever wanted to admit to himself.</p><p>He went back to his small Brooklyn apartment and began cooking, spotting his journal that he had left on the counter.</p><p>Steve was always scared of his mind leaving him due to his super-soldier serum, so he had a journal full of things he wanted to remember, bad or good.</p><p>Some pages were of movies that he really liked, and some had photos of his closest friends.</p><p>His journal was the most important thing he had in his life after Daisy, and he vowed to never lose it. It meant too much to him, and he only wished that he never lost Daisy, either.</p><p>◊◊◊</p><p>It was the twenty-third. The day was dreaded by Steve, but on the other hand, Daisy was very excited to see her good friends again.</p><p>She walked into the tower at just around three in the afternoon, holding a bottle of white wine and the tray full of cheese and bread she had made. She also had a large bag wrapped around her shoulder,</p><p>Daisy rode up the elevator and was immediately greeted by the warm smell of all different kinds of food.</p><p>The whole tower was decorated in many different kinds of Christmas decorations, and the floor that they were celebrating on had a huge Christmas tree pushed against one of the corners.</p><p>"Dais'!" Natasha yelled, engulfing her best friend in a hug.</p><p>The superhero helped her with the tray and wine and carried it into the kitchen where Wanda and Vision were cooking.</p><p>"Okay so we have the cheese and bread with some white wine from Daisy, the soup from Wanda and Vision, the Turkey from Tony, more soup from Steve, potatoes from yours truly, Clint and Laura brought the cranberry sauce, Rhodey came with the peas and corn, and Sam brought some dessert."</p><p>Natasha took a deep breath as she looked at all the food on the kitchen counter. Daisy's eyes widened at the sight of it, the amount of food made her mouth water.</p><p>"I'm gonna go grab the presents I bought from my car real quick!" Daisy exclaimed, rushing out of the kitchen and down to the elevator.</p><p>As she grabbed the gifts she had wrapped up for her friends, she realized that she was over Steve. She didn't feel a horrible pit in her stomach as she knew she'd have to see him. Daisy was going to have closure, and that's all she really felt like she needed in the moment.</p><p>She made her way back up to the floor she was on and placed the gifts under the tree before she greeted everyone and said hello.</p><p>"Tony!" Daisy smiled, hugging her friend. "It's been <em>way </em>too long."</p><p>"I agree." He spoke in return, sitting back down on the couch next to Pepper. "What'd you bring?"</p><p>"Just a cheese and bread tray. Believe it or not, not everyone has such a luxurious kitchen as you." She laughed, sitting on the couch as the three of them waited for everyone else to arrive.</p><p>Tony scoffed. "Well, take this as a formal invitation to come to our kitchens anytime if you need to cook."</p><p>"Sure, sure." Daisy rolled her eyes. "Don't come crying to me in your pajamas when I come over at three in the morning to make the ultimate brownie recipe."</p><p>Pepper took the white wine from Natasha and poured some in a glass, handing it to Daisy. "That wouldn't be such a bad thing. I need to get rid of this masculine energy sometimes."</p><p>Daisy laughed as Sam and Clint walked in, accepting hugs from both Daisy and Pepper before taking their food to the kitchen.</p><p>Soon, everyone was pouring in and greeting each other. Daisy sat in between Rhodey and Laura, Clint's wife, as all of The Avengers waited on Steve to arrive.</p><p>"We should be ready to eat dinner as soon as these presents are opened." Wanda stated, walking out of the kitchen alongside Vision and sitting down on one of the couches next to him.</p><p>After an eternity of talking with the rest of their friends, Steve finally walked in, gifts and soup in hand.</p><p>"Finally!" Natasha exclaimed, helping him put the gifts down as Wanda took his soup into the kitchen.</p><p>On the inside, Steve was panicking. Just like the day before, he wasn't ready to make awkward conversation with Daisy, let alone spend Christmas Eve-Eve with her.</p><p>Thankfully, he had his friends around him, and he knew he could distract himself and indulge in conversation with them, instead.</p><p>The gift-giving went fairly quickly. Both Daisy and Steve hadn't gotten anything for each other in fears that it would make the atmosphere awkward.</p><p>Natasha finished cleaning up the gift wrappings as Wanda and Vision brought out all the food, setting it down on the smooth, white tablecloth placed on the large dining table.</p><p>Everybody soon lingered down to the table and sat down. Daisy sat in between Natasha and Tony, serving herself a little bit of every type of food her friends brought to Christmas dinner.</p><p>"So, what're your guys' plans for, y'know, the whole saving the world everyday thing?" Daisy asked, shoving a forkful of potatoes in her mouth after she spoke.</p><p>"Well, since Bruce and Thor are missing in action, we can't really do anything too risky." Tony answered, Natasha immediately becoming uncomfortable with the mention of Bruce's disappearance.</p><p>"Hopefully Thor's just decided to stay in Asgard for a few more of his princess naps." Daisy stated, trying to shift the conversation from Bruce to Thor.</p><p>"Actually, speaking of Thor..." Clint trailed off, poking at his turkey a bit. "Apparently that girl he was dating, Jane?" Daisy nodded, confirming that he had gotten her name right before he continued his conversation. "Apparently she had some kind of deadly power in her arm or something." He stated, gulping down a few bits of broccoli before continuing. "Long story short, he took her to Asgard, got her into a giant space war, then she dumped him."</p><p>Pepper scoffed. "That's understandable." She spoke, pausing her eating mid-bite. "I mean, I consider Thor a good friend, but if I was taken on a first date to battle my future father-in-law, he would be dumped immediately."</p><p>Steve stayed silent as he sat across from Pepper, trying to drown himself in the conversation, but he just couldn't. She looked so happy.</p><p>And as they left and said their goodbyes, all Steve could feel was his heart shattering over and over.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>HOW'D WE END UP THIS WAY?<br/>SEE ME NERVOUSLY PULLING AT MY CLOTHES AND TRYING TO LOOK BUSY.<br/>AND YOU'RE DOING YOUR BEST TO AVOID ME.<br/></b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0025"><h2>25. 𝗔𝗪𝗞𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
  <b><br/>
</b>
</p><p>
  <b>I TOOK A CHANCE, I TOOK A SHOT.<br/>
</b>
  <b>AND YOU MIGHT THINK I'M BULLETPROOF BUT I'M NOT.<br/>
</b>
  <b>YOU TOOK A SWING, I TOOK IT HARD.<br/>
</b>
  <b>AND DOWN HERE ON THE GROUND I SEE WHO YOU ARE.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/>
<b>CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR<br/>
AWKWARD ENCOUNTERS<br/>
</b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Steve was in a predicament.</p><p>What was the predicament? You may be asking.</p><p>Well, a few days after seeing Daisy so happy at the Avengers Christmas party, he decided to let Tony and Sam set him up on a few blind dates, which was <em>never </em>going to end well.</p><p>He didn't want to date anyone other than Daisy, but he wanted to find his soulmate, and if the only way to do that was to try and date around and look for who sparked the soulmate string attached to his pinkie finger, then so be it.</p><p>Now, what was the predicament he was in? I mean, besides the fact that he was incredibly sad and obviously just busying himself to keep his mind off of his horrible mistakes in the past, you'd think that Steve Rogers wasn't in a predicament.</p><p>He is. You'd be wrong.</p><p>You see, Sam and Tony set him up with the second girl he had gotten a date with in the last couple of weeks, and she insisted that she wanted to go to the library/café that Daisy owned.</p><p>Of all places, of all people, this girl wanted to go to Daisy's Library.</p><p>Now do you see the predicament?</p><p>Alas, Steve got ready for the date anyway. Of course, it was going to be awkward, but he knew he'd have to live with the fact that Daisy owned a beautiful Library, and some people he wished to know more about would want to go there.</p><p>He decided to wear a simple t-shirt and jeans, it wasn't a formal date, but it was quite chilly out, considering it was early January, so he shrugged a black coat on and called it a day.</p><p>The drive to the library was quite fast, after all, he did have the road memorized from all the times he stayed with Daisy over at the café.</p><p><em>Stop. </em>Steve told himself, pulling into the parking lot with sweaty hands and shaky legs. <em>You're going to find your soulmate.</em></p><p>He walked into the library, immediately breathing in the scent of freshly baked goods and the roaring fire that he missed so much. He sat down and forgot how much he relied on the library to feel grounded, to feel like a normal person for once.</p><p>The girl he was supposed to be meeting walked in, waving to Steve before sitting down across from him at the small table.</p><p>"Ever since I passed this place on my way home from work, I promised myself I'd go and get something to eat." The woman stated, a dreamy look in her eyes as she gazed upon the bookshelves lining every inch of the walls.</p><p>"And where do you work?" Steve asked, trying to make some form of conversation to drown out his anxiousness about inevitably seeing Daisy again.</p><p>"Ah, I work in accounting at S.H.I.E.L.D." She answered, picking at her nails as she smiled nervously at Captain America. "I'm Lillian."</p><p>"Steve Rogers." He shakily smiled, introducing himself as they attempted to indulge themselves in a conversation, but they just kept butting heads topic-wise.</p><p>Steve knew the date was doomed, they just didn't get along well, and his soulmate string didn't appear for the whole five minutes they had been sitting across from each other.</p><p>"Can I get you guys anything?" Daisy asked, locking eyes with Steve before directly looking back to Lillian, a bit uncomfortable that her ex had decided to bring a date to <em>her </em>library.</p><p>"Oh, can I get one of your blueberry scones and a hot chocolate please?" Lillian asked politely as Daisy wrote down her order.</p><p>She locked eyes with Steve to get his order, becoming increasingly more and more uncomfortable as she waited for him to talk. "Um- I'll just have a black coffee, thanks."</p><p>Daisy nodded and left to the kitchen, shutting the door behind her and emitting a nervous and shaky sigh. He was moving on, and she moved on too, so why did it hurt so bad?</p><p><em>Probably because he decided, of all places to have a date with another girl, he chose your goddamn library. </em>She thought, wiping her hands on her thrifted turtleneck and black skirt. Of course, she had an apron over her black skirt, she didn't want it to stain.</p><p>The blueberry scones were in the freezer, so Daisy took them out and shoved them into the oven for a few minutes to let them defrost and freshen up before she served them.</p><p>At the same time, she boiled up Steve's coffee and his date's hot chocolate, wanting to speed it up so she wouldn't have to serve them for longer than she had to.</p><p>Steve gratefully accepted his drink as Daisy scurried back off into the kitchen. He tried to start up as many conversations as he could with Lillian, but it just wasn't working.</p><p>By the end of the night, both Daisy and Steve felt dejected, and they stood out in the pouring rain as they waited for their rides back.</p><p>Steve was taking the bus, and Daisy was waiting for Gray to pick her up for their last girl's movie night before the baby arrived.</p><p>It was a perfect copy of the night of Gray and Jo's wedding. The two soulmates, standing so close together, yet not knowing the other was there at all.</p><p>Daisy and Steve both walked home that night with pits in their stomachs. Both were full of disappointment and longing for one another more than they'd ever admit.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>YOU COULD WRITE A BOOK ON HOW TO RUIN SOMEONE'S PERFECT DAY.<br/>
</b>
  <b>WELL I GET SO CONFUSED AND FRUSTRATED,<br/>
</b>
  <b>FORGET WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/>
</b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0026"><h2>26. 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>LOSING HIM WAS BLUE LIKE I'D NEVER KNOWN,<br/>MISSING HIM WAS DARK GRAY ALL ALONE,<br/>FORGETTING HIM WAS LIKE TRYING TO KNOW SOMEBODY YOU'VE NEVER MET.<br/>BUT LOVING HIM WAS RED.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE<br/>RECONCILIATION<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy was never into the whole 'let's still be friends' type of deal. It never worked out for either of the two participating people, and so Daisy never dabbled in it.</p><p>Although, when Steve stood at her door with a guilt-ridden look in his eyes, she considered it for a moment.</p><p>"Please." He asked, brushing his bed-head out of his eyes. He had had the realization he wanted to be friends with Daisy in the middle of the night, so both of them were half-awake and clothed only in their pajamas. "Remember when I convinced you to go out on one date?"</p><p>Daisy nodded, recalling how extremely happy she was when he showed up at her door with a huge flower bouquet in his arms.</p><p>"This is a parallel, the only thing different is what I'm asking." Steve spoke softly, his voice deep and hoarse due to his abrupt midnight awakening. "I loved being friends with you before, Daisy, the only thing that kept us from being friends was us dating."</p><p>The two of them stood in silence, one standing outside of the love of his life's apartment, and the other standing in front of her soulmate, door wide open.</p><p>"Steve, I don't think this is a great idea-"</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>Daisy looked to the side, finding sudden interest in her pastel blue accent wall. It had fake vines placed over the whole of it, but she wasn't in front of Steve Rogers to admire her decoration skills.</p><p>"Because staying as 'friends' after a breakup never ends well." She stated, quoting the word 'friends' with her index and middle finger. Steve cocked his head to the side, he had never dealt with being friends after a relationship, he assumed it was normal. "They either fall in love and break the person they are dating's heart, or they drift apart slowly and never see each other again."</p><p>Steve shook his head. "But wouldn't having the chance to be friends again be worth it?"</p><p>"Depends how it ends, I guess." Daisy spoke, shrugging her shoulders and looking at Steve's crystal blue eyes as they bore into her own.</p><p>Their eyes matched in a way. The same sky blue just a different tint. Steve's was more bright, kind of like the sea if you jumped in in the middle of winter. Daisy's, on the other hand, was more blue like the summer sky that you'd lay under in a field of flowers.</p><p>"We wouldn't know if it was worth it or not unless we tried." Steve declared, making a fair point.</p><p>It was almost like he was digging through Daisy's walls in her brain, getting through the cold exterior of her past.</p><p>"Fine." She spoke reluctantly, rubbing her hands together. "But goddammit Steve, if this ends in hurt for the both of us, it'll be your fault."</p><p>Steve nodded, smiling softly. "Sounds like a plan."</p><p>Daisy stepped to the side, her slipper-clad feet padding across her wooden floor. One of her T-shirts was hanging from the interior doorknob, making Steve internally laugh.</p><p>"It's almost 2am. You might as well come in for wine or something." Daisy smiled, letting Steve walk into her apartment and sit down on the couch he missed so much.</p><p>"Maybe some warm milk?" He joked as Daisy got out a wine bottle and two of her wine glasses from one of her cabinets.</p><p>"Har har, very funny Mr. America."</p><p>They both sat next to each other on the couch, turning on the fireplace channel before indulging in rich conversation, almost like it was before.</p><p>Soon enough, their talking became quieter and quieter as both Daisy and Steve became extremely tired, rubbing their eyes and yawning every few moments.</p><p>Daisy's television flipped channels until they found something to drown out the awful silence that came with the clock passing to three in the morning.</p><p>Neither of them thought it would end up like this.</p><p>They both huddled up under separate blankets, trying to cover themselves from the cold January chills.</p><p>The two talked and joked until they both fell asleep. Once upon a time, they slept curled up in each other's arms, but now, Daisy retreated to her bedroom and Steve huddled into the couch, finding as much warmth as he could from the blankets strewn over his body.</p><p>It was different now, but somehow it was still the same.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>REMEMBERING HIM COMES IN FLASHBACKS AND ECHOES,<br/></b>
  <b>TELL MYSELF IT'S TIME NOW, GOTTA LET GO.<br/></b>
  <b>BUT MOVING ON FROM HIM IS IMPOSSIBLE AND I STILL SEE IT ALL IN MY HEAD,<br/></b>
  <b>BURNING RED.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0027"><h2>27. 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</span>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>THIS AIN'T FOR THE BEST,<br/>MY REPUTATION'S NEVER BEEN WORSE SO<br/>YOU MUST LIKE ME FOR ME.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX<br/>AWARD<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Daisy Stone was nominated for best new artist of the year.</p><p>And truth be told, she was <em>terrified.</em></p><p>She really didn't expect to win alongside people like Sam Smith and HAIM, but she held her head high in her car as she drove down to the STAPLES center where the Grammys were taking place.</p><p>Her car had broken down earlier in the week, to her disappointment, so Steve offered to take her. So Daisy placed him as her plus-one to the awards.</p><p>Daisy was also performing at the Grammys, and having to sing and dance and create a show in front of absolute legends was going to be horrifyingly scary.</p><p>AC/DC, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, and so many others were performing their own music.</p><p>That didn't help Daisy calm her nerves whatsoever.</p><p>Steve let her out of the car and waved a quick goodbye as he drove to find parking. Daisy breathed in and out slowly before walking into the stadium, being ushered immediately to her table's seat.</p><p>None of the other people at her table had arrived, so she looked at the name tags.</p><p>'<em>Tony Stark &amp; Pepper Potts</em>'</p><p>Almost on queue, the billionaire and his girlfriend sat down at the table, greeting Daisy with wide smiles as they situated themselves.</p><p>"What're you guys doing here?" Daisy asked, rubbing her sweaty palms down on her long black dress. If the worst happened, her microphone would slip out of her hands during the performance. She didn't want that to happen, to say the least.</p><p>"We thought you could use a little familiar face in this crowd." Pepper answered, smiling kindly. In some sense, she had always felt like an older sister to Daisy, and they talked quite a bit more than she talked with Tony.</p><p>Speaking of the devil, he scoffed and immediately waved over for some alcohol. "And we were invited to present your performance and announce the winner of best new artist."</p><p>"You're kidding." Daisy stated, elated that someone she was close to would be announcing her Grammy production.</p><p>"Nope." Pepper replied, grabbing the glass of champagne that Tony had handed her. "We actually didn't even know which performer we were presenting for until last night."</p><p>"Wow. That's a very freaky coincidence."</p><p>Steve stepped into the stadium, absolutely in awe at how classical the building looked. People were finally starting to file in, and he felt extremely underdressed.</p><p>Daisy looked gorgeous with the black dress she decided to wear, and Steve had already felt super underdressed with his simple suit and tie, but seeing every single other celebrity in an over-the-top outfit made him feel just a little bit intimidated.</p><p>He spotted Daisy at one of the tables as he was ushered towards it, and he sat down beside her. Steve sat in shock as Tony and Pepper were placed in front of the two.</p><p>"Woah, looks like Capsicle decided to show up." Tony spoke, smirking as the waiter handed him a glass of champagne.</p><p>Everyone else in the tables around the small group arrived and the lights dimmed, and the host of the show stepped out onto the stage, earning a large applause.</p><p>The first half of the awards show went by quite fast, but for Daisy, it felt like an eternity.</p><p>As the host took a break for the commercials, Tony and Pepper were ushered to the area where they had to get up on stage, meaning that it was almost time for the award.</p><p>"Hey, you're gonna be okay." Steve spoke, comforting Daisy. He could sense that she was incredibly nervous, which was one of the things she loved and missed about him.</p><p>The lights on the stage came back on and Tony and Pepper walked up to the microphone, envelope of the winner in hand.</p><p>"This year has brought so many new amazing artists into the music industry." Pepper smiled, reading off of the cues in front of her.</p><p>"Maybe I should start writing music." Tony spoke, completely forgetting his lines and not bothering to even remotely try to read off of the cues.</p><p>Pepper rolled her eyes as the audience laughed, knowing that Tony Stark was just acting like himself.</p><p>"So, here are the nominees for best new artist." She stepped to the side, letting the lights dim once again and the screen behind the couple turn on.</p><p>Daisy tapped her heel against the ground as three of her four other nominees showed. Sam Smith, HAIM, and Iggy Azalea.</p><p>Her name popped up on the screen and was read out, the claps were drowning, which made her nervousness sink down a bit more. Bastille was the last to be shown as the lights came back on and Tony and Pepper walked back onto the stage.</p><p>"And the winner of best new artist is..." Pepper announced, opening up the envelope and smiling widely, showing it to Tony.</p><p>"Daisy Stone!" The two yelled.</p><p>Daisy's eyes were in a haze as she made her way through the tables and onto the stage. Her ears were covered by the sounds of people clapping, and it was hard to believe that she had won.</p><p>Tony handed her the award before being engulfed in a hug by Daisy, they let go and she did the same with Pepper, overwhelmed with happiness.</p><p>She tried not to let tears of joy fall out of her eyes, so she cleared her throat and stepped up to the microphone, Grammy in hand.</p><p>"Um- wow." Daisy smiled. "I want to thank my best friends, they really helped me during this time and even helped with the backup vocals of my most recent album." She spoke, knowing that both Gray and Jo would be watching the live show.</p><p>"Also, I'd like to thank the team who helped work on the post-production process on my songs and album, my close friends, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, just to name a few.</p><p>"And obviously the people who support me by buying and listening to my albums, it means so much that because of you, I get to stand on this stage and hold this award." Daisy followed the usher back to the side of the stage as the music played, waving to Tony and Pepper before entering the area she had to be in before her performance.</p><p>The makeup artist began prepping her face just as she had discussed.</p><p>She wanted to make a lasting impression, and she was going to go all out on her performance.</p><p>Her makeup was done at light speed, and she slipped into the two piece, white bodysuit she had chosen out.</p><p>As the commercial break for the live television show ended, she could hear Tony and Pepper announce her to the stage.</p><p>Daisy took a deep breath in and out before stepping right onto the stage of the 57th Grammy Awards.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>THIRD FLOOR ON THE WEST SIDE ME AND YOU.<br/></b>
  <b>HANDSOME, YOUR MANSION WITH A VIEW.<br/></b>
  <b>DO THE GIRLS BACK HOME TOUCH YOU LIKE I DO?</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0028"><h2>28. 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>AND ALL AT ONCE YOU ARE THE ONE I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR,<br/>KING OF MY HEART. BODY AND SOUL.<br/>AND ALL AT ONCE YOU'RE ALL I WANT I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO.<br/>KING OF MY HEART. BODY AND SOUL.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN<br/>AWARDS SHOW<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>The crowd went silent after the clapping ensued as Daisy sat down at the grand piano on the stage of the Grammys.</p><p>She waited until she got the thumbs up from one of the stagehands to start.</p><p>“<em>If I wanted to know who you were hanging with while I was gone I would have asked you</em>” She started off.</p><p>It was one of the songs off of her album. It was about a woman who visited her hometown for the first time in years for Christmas, and her old high school flame was still living there.</p><p>The whole stage was set up with fake trees around her, fitting perfectly with the nature of the songs in the album.</p><p>Halfway through her song, Daisy let the orchestra behind the stage take the piano over as the one she was playing sunk into the bottom of the floor.</p><p>She stood up and grasped the microphone, unclipping one of the buttons amongst the rhinestones on her outfit, releasing a gorgeous frilly dress upon her whole body.</p><p>Steve watched from the crowd, in absolute awe.</p><p>He was still in love with Daisy Stone, and in that moment, as he watched her dance around the stage elegantly, he knew that he couldn’t let it go.</p><p>He had hurt her so much, and the guilt of that night still ate him from the inside out.</p><p>But his morals had changed over the months without her in his life, and he knew that soulmates <em>never </em>came before love.</p><p>Daisy looked out into the crowd, trying not to become even more intimidated by the amazing people surrounding her.</p><p>Over the weeks that her and Steve had been friends, she realized she was still in love with him. She would never fully forgive him for breaking her heart, but she was in love with him, and that was just so hard to deny.</p><p>She had planned to tell him that she knew they were soulmates a while ago, but Daisy had always chickened out. What if Steve wasn’t in love with her anymore? It would simply ruin the nice friendship they had.</p><p>“<em>It always leads to you in my hometown</em>” She finished, bowing and letting the lights dim until she wasn’t visible.</p><p>Daisy was quickly ushered off the stage so she could change back into her regular outfit and makeup in time to sit back down at her table before the commercial break ended.</p><p>Thankfully, she slipped back into the black dress she was wearing before and quickly sat back down next to Steve, Tony and Pepper.</p><p>“That was amazing!” Pepper exclaimed, a genuine tone in her voice.</p><p>“You should’ve had me to perform up there with you, but whatever.” Tony smirked. “It was beautiful, Daisy.” He spoke, genuinely this time.</p><p>The woman smiled, still shaking in nervousness and excitement. “Thank you so much.”</p><p>Steve didn’t speak, which Daisy was put off by, but she couldn’t see the look of absolute adoration in his eyes as he looked at her. Tony watched him as Steve became even more entranced by the woman sitting next to him.</p><p>The rest of the show went off without a hitch, and Daisy immediately fell asleep to the acoustic radio playing through Steve’s car.</p><p>Soon enough, light rain tapping on the car windows turned into harsh rain, but it didn’t wake Daisy up, it actually soothed her deeper into sleep.</p><p>The rain slowly turned into white snowflakes, and the roads became blocked up, leaving Daisy and Steve just outside of the Brooklyn border.</p><p>After Daisy woke up, they bought a few bits and pieces to hold them over for the night until Costco closed. A blanket, a few snacks, and water bottles would have to suffice.</p><p>They made sure to lock the doors extremely well before pulling off into a relatively closed off location.</p><p>Steve didn’t know what to talk about with the girl he was still in love with, so he let his eyes shut as he drifted to sleep in the driver’s car seat.</p><p>Daisy did the same, resting her head against the seatbelt. It was uncomfortable, but it would have to do.</p><p>The snow continued to fall heavily upon the two until daybreak, only clearing for the bright sun as it rose. Staying in the cold in a car overnight was almost worth it when the two watched the sunset.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>LATE IN THE NIGHT, THE CITY'S ASLEEP.<br/>YOUR LOVE IS A SECRET I'M HOPING, DREAMING, DYING TO KEEP.<br/>CHANGE MY PRIORITIES.<br/>THE TASTE OF YOUR LIPS IS MY IDEAL OF LUXURY.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0029"><h2>29. 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>I BLEW THINGS OUT OF PROPORTION NOW YOU'RE BLUE.<br/>PUT YOU IN JAIL FOR SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T DO.<br/>I PINNED YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK.<br/>THOUGHT I HAD REASON TO ATTACK.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT<br/>IT'S YOU?<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>February of 2016 had finally arrived, and Daisy Stone had never been in such a place of torn.</p><p>On one hand, she knew that Steve Rogers was her soulmate, and she was utterly in love with him.</p><p>But on the other hand, she was aware that Steve Rogers wanted to see other people.</p><p>But it was only because he wanted to find his soulmate, which was her! So, maybe it wasn't too bad!</p><p>At least, that's what she tried to convince herself.</p><p>The library was flourishing as usual, and she had moved out of her old apartment so that she could spend all of her time at her library.</p><p>Pasta, her kitten, was quite content with the change, but she usually stayed at the library most of the day anyway, so it wasn't too much of a difference.</p><p>The early morning sunshine poured through Daisy's bedroom window, and the loud sound of a motorcycle awoke her violently from her sleep.</p><p>Her kitten leaped off of the bed as she got up, groggily walking down the stairs in her pajamas and entering down into the main area of her library home.</p><p>The clock read that it was almost four in the morning, and Daisy groaned as she walked up to the window to investigate who decided to ride their motorcycle down the road at an ungodly hour of the day.</p><p>A silhouette stood at the door of the library, knocking every so often.</p><p>The sun was blocking Daisy's view of the person, so she let her eyes adjust before the sun behind them cleared up.</p><p>It was Steve.</p><p>Of all people, of all times, he had to come.</p><p>She opened the door and let him in, trying to awaken her eyes enough to fully comprehend anything he was doing.</p><p>"Before you say anything, I <em>really </em>need a coffee." Daisy stated, leaving Steve to sit himself down as she walked into the kitchen and brewed a cup of joe.</p><p>The coffee brewed up quite quickly and she was able to sit down with a clear mind, ready to talk with her soulmate-friend about what he was there for.</p><p>Honestly, for the last few days she had been wondering when the best time was to break the news to him that she was his soulmate. What better time to do it than five days before Valentine's?</p><p>"I have something to-"</p><p>"I need to tell you something-"</p><p>They both ran each other over with their words, chuckling a bit out of awkwardness.</p><p>"You can go first." Daisy spoke, smiling generously and sending an arrow through Steve's heart.</p><p>"Okay, I'll try to say this quick and fast, but I'm still so in love with you, Daisy Laine Stone."</p><p>What?</p><p>Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen.</p><p>"And I'm so sorry that I broke your heart. And I know you'll never forgive me, but I hope you know that I never <em>ever </em>stopped loving you, even when I was determined to find my soulmate." Steve revealed, looking from Daisy back to his hands, which were crossed on the table in front of him.</p><p>The woman sat across from him, her face crossed with utter shock, before she internally chuckled in her mind, and smiled sweetly.</p><p>"Steve Rogers, I never stopped loving you." She grinned. "I'll never be able to forgive you for that night, but we can move forward."</p><p>A smirk arose on her face as she thought about Steve as hard as she could, opening her eyes to see the whole room emitted in a golden hue.</p><p>The Avenger watched as the golden string that had caused him pain for years and years of hurt wrapped itself around the love of his life, turning her beautiful blue eyes into a shiny gold and creating a crown over her golden blonde hair.</p><p>"It's you?" He asked, almost speechless.</p><p>Daisy nodded, smiling sweetly. "I've known for a few months. I was going to tell you, but obviously, you had more important things to say."</p><p>Steve sat there in shock.</p><p>He smiled after a few moments, realizing that even after the ups and downs of their normal, healthy relationship, they were truly destined to be together, soulmate or not.</p><p>Now, something you need to know is that once two soulmates fall in love completely aware of the fact that their golden strings are attached, the string breaks.</p><p>And finally, after years and years of waiting, they saw their golden strings break in two.</p><p>Pasta jumped onto the table, nuzzling against Steve's chest. He looked to his pinkie, seeing a gorgeous golden ring weaved over it.</p><p>Daisy had a matching one around the same finger, but because she was the first one to find out that Steve was her soulmate, the ring had a gorgeous leaf engraving on it.</p><p>"So..." Steve started, trying to find the right words. "Where do we go from here?"</p><p>"Well, that's a lot to unpack for one question." Daisy spoke, sipping lightly on her coffee as she became more and more aware every moment that she was still in her pajamas.</p><p>Steve nodded, rubbing his ring finger against his index finger and thumb anxiously. "Maybe we can start again?"</p><p>Daisy shook her head. "I wouldn't want us to start any other way."</p><p>The two gazed out the window for a few moments, watching as the sun began rising higher and higher above the city skyline.</p><p>More and more cars began passing by the library as the minutes passed by. Daisy changed into a baby pink dress that fell to her knees, and Steve helped her open up the library and serve the customers that came to order drinks or take out books.</p><p>They'd have to have a talk about what they once had, and if they could ever bring it back to what it was before, but for now, they'd live in bliss together.</p><p>At the end of the day, when only a few of Daisy's regulars remained in the library, she curled up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. She let Pasta lay down in the lap of her dress, and Steve sit beside her.</p><p>It was all she ever wanted. A life in happiness with her dreams accomplished and her soulmate met.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>FIGHTING WITH A TRUE LOVE IS LIKE BOXING WITH NO GLOVES.<br/>CHEMISTRY 'TILL IT BLOWS UP, 'TILL THERE'S NO US.<br/>WHY'D I HAVE TO BREAK WHAT I LOVE SO MUCH?<br/>IT'S ON YOUR FACE. AND I'M TO BLAME.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0030"><h2>30. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>WE COULD LET OUR FRIENDS CRASH IN THE LIVING ROOM.<br/></b>
  <b>THIS IS OUR PLACE, WE MAKE THE CALL.<br/></b>
  <b>AND I'M HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS THAT EVERYONE WHO SEES YOU WANTS YOU.<br/></b>
  <b>I'VE LOVED YOU THREE SUMMERS NOW, HONEY, <br/>BUT I WANT 'EM ALL.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE<br/>THE ENDING<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<b><br/></b></p><p>Two weeks.</p><p>It had been two weeks since Steve and Daisy reconciled and found out that they were soulmates, and life couldn’t have been better for them.</p><p>They didn’t want to move too fast, so they decided to not move in with each other until they were both ready and okay with it.</p><p>Since Gray was about to go into labour in a few weeks, she was more than happy to help style Daisy for her and Steve’s date.</p><p>Of course, being the gentlemen he was, insisted that the date was going to be a complete secret. So, Daisy was really left wondering what she had gotten all dressed up for.</p><p>Nevertheless, she adored the white gown that Gray had chosen out for her. Thank god her friend had a full closet, because Daisy really didn’t have any shoes that would’ve matched.</p><p>“You look breathtaking as always, Dais’.” Gray spoke, styling the rest of her best friend’s hair in a beautiful waved side-part.</p><p>“Well, I can’t thank you enough for driving down and helping me out.” Daisy rebutted, smiling as she stood up from her vanity mirror and brushed her dress off.</p><p>The two heard a light honking from outside and a revving of a motorcycle, meaning that Daisy was hilariously dressed up for the ride, but at least she had leggings on underneath her dress.</p><p>She said a quick goodbye to Gray and left, running downstairs and greeting Steve outside with a hug and a cheek kiss.</p><p>“I’m sorry- I would’ve let you know we were riding on my motorcycle, but the ride I ordered cancelled last minute.” Steve apologized, helmets in hand.</p><p>“It’s fine, Steve.” Daisy smiled, grabbing one of the helmets and putting it on before sitting behind Steve on his motorcycle.</p><p>As they lifted off onto the road of Brooklyn, Daisy bunched up her dress and placed it underneath her, hanging on to Steve’s torso for dear life.</p><p>They reached the freeway and watched as less and less cars drove past the two.</p><p>It was calming, driving down an almost empty road.</p><p>Soon enough, Steve pulled into a small neighborhood on the side of the road. He parked in one of the lots near what looked like a commercial building.</p><p>Daisy got off, and as soon as she took off her helmet, Steve pulled her over to the fire escape stairs, letting her climb up first.</p><p>The roof was completely decorated with fairy lights, emitting a beautiful glow onto the night sky as the sun set. A table sat in the middle, and Steve sat Daisy down across from him, facing each other in between a small basket of flowers and candles.</p><p>“This is… This is amazing, Steve.” Daisy expressed, beaming with glee.</p><p>“I’m glad you like it.” He responded, grabbing two plates of food out of the picnic basket that sat under the table.</p><p>The two ate and conversed until the sun set behind them, leaving the warm tones to be replaced by gorgeous stars lighting up the sky and chilly winds.</p><p>Daisy grabbed her cardigan that she had taken with her and pulled it over her dress, cozying up so she wasn’t cold.</p><p>“Here, the ride back will be colder.” Steve spoke, taking Daisy’s hand and giving her his jacket to shrug on over her cardigan and dress.</p><p>“Thanks.” She smiled, walking back down the fire escape behind Steve. She placed on her helmet and hopped on the motorcycle.</p><p>The stars made perfect scenery for the late-night ride back home. They had decided to stay over at the library for the night. Steve insisted that he could drive to his house, but Daisy really didn’t want him driving too late at night.</p><p>So, they curled up together on the couch and fell asleep listening to the faint crackling of a fire and the record player spinning.</p><p>“Goodnight, Dais’.” Steve whispered, kissing the top of her head before drifting to sleep.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WILL YOU PLEASE STAND?<br/>WITH EVERY GUITAR STRING SCAR ON MY HAND,<br/>I TAKE THIS MAGNETIC FORCE OF A MAN TO BE MY<br/>LOVER.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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<a name="section0031"><h2>31. 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥</h2></a>
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    <p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞</b>
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  <b>WERE THERE CLUES I DIDN'T SEE?<br/></b>
  <b>ISN'T IT JUST SO PRETTY TO THINK,<br/></b>
  <b>ALL ALONG THERE WAS SOME INVISIBLE STRING,<br/></b>
  <b>TYING YOU TO ME.</b>
</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br/><b>CHAPTER THIRTY<br/>YEARS LATER<br/></b>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>Five years had passed since New Year's Eve 2015. Gray and Jo had a beautiful and healthy baby boy named Felix, Daisy had published her third studio album, and Steve had officially resigned from his superhero duties, instead opting to stay home as much as he could.</p><p>Daisy had a beautiful engagement ring placed on her finger, settled right next to her soulmate ring.</p><p>A lot had changed. Daisy sold her library and moved to a gorgeous cottage in the English countryside with Steve. Of course, she kept in constant contact with Gray, Natasha, Pepper and Wanda, and Tony would fly her out to the United States on a private jet whenever she needed to.</p><p>Along with Pasta, who had grown into a full-sized cat, Daisy and Steve had adopted a few cows and sheep to roam their acres and acres of land, and a gorgeous German Shepherd dog to give them more company.</p><p>Noticing the bed was empty on the other side, Daisy emerged from her slumber and cleared her thoughts of where she was now.</p><p>She pulled on a white dress and black boots and made her way downstairs, meeting Steve with a kiss as he sipped on his mug of coffee.</p><p>"Good morning, darling." He spoke, handing his fiancé a plate of toast and sitting down across from her at their dining table.</p><p>"You look all dressed up." Daisy pointed out, digging into her toast. "What's the occasion?"</p><p>"Tony has some business opportunities that are based in London. He wants me to go and put in a good word for him." Steve explained, gulping down the rest of his coffee.</p><p>"Sounds about right." Daisy laughed, finishing her breakfast and placing the dishes in the kitchen sink to do later.</p><p>Steve kissed Daisy's cheek before saying a quick goodbye and hopping in his truck. He rolled down his window and smiled at Daisy, who was leaning against the windowsill.</p><p>After years of waiting, Daisy and Steve's string was no longer invisible.</p><p>•••••••••••••••••••••••••</p><p>
  <b>A STRING THAT PULLED ME OUT OF ALL THE WRONG ARMS, RIGHT INTO THAT DIVE BAR.<br/></b>
  <b>SOMETHING WRAPPED ALL OF MY PAST MISTAKES IN BARBED WIRE.<br/></b>
  <b>CHAINS AROUND MY DEMONS,<br/></b>
  <b>WOOL TO BRAVE THE SEASONS.<br/></b>
  <b>ONE SINGLE THREAD OF GOLD TIED ME TO YOU.</b>
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  <b>❝不可见字符串❞<br/></b>
  <b>❝INVISIBLE STRING❞</b>
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  <strong>Thank you for reading<br/><b>✿ INVISIBLE STRING ✿</b></strong>
</p><p><strong><b>-</b></strong>g</p>
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